Rise to Power
by crashtestdummy
Summary: What if Naruto gave up on Sakura just after joining team 7? How much stronger would he get now that he's focused on training? What differences will he make? How will he become Hokage? NarutoKurenai pairing CURRENTLY REWRITING
1. Chapter 1: Change

CHAPTER 1 – CHANGE

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. 

* * *

"Sakura-chan! Would you go out with me?" Naruto chimed casually and almost absentmindedly.

It had become a force of habit. Naruto had been trying for so long to gain the girl's affection, dating back since the early days of the academy. Of course, the pink haired girl would rebuff him every time, and he had come to expect it. He had gotten so used to it that he would just shrug it off and try again later. 

But it would be different this time. For Sakura, the day had been the worst she had in a long time. She had overslept, and did not have the time to blow dry her hair so she could look good for Sasuke. Then, she didn't even have enough time for breakfast when she realised that if she didn't get out of the house quickly, she would be late. While she had managed to snag a piece of toast, she had dropped it in her rush to get to the bridge where they have their meeting. If that wasn't bad, she realised that it was all in vain just to get to the bridge on time, as Kakashi was late once again. And to make matters worse, Kakashi was four hours late, an hour later than usual. To say she was irritated was a severe understatement. 

Naruto asking her out was the worst thing he could do at the moment, and in spite having tried to keep her anger in check, she snapped. 

"STOP ANNOYING ME YOU IDIOT! I'VE TOLD YOU A THOUSAND TIMES ALREADY. I WILL NOT GO OUT WITH YOU! YOU ARE STUPID AND USELESS! NOT TO MENTION I WOULD NEVER GO OUT WITH SOMEONE AS UGLY AS YOU EVEN IN A MILLION YEARS! NO GIRL IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD!"

Sakura huffed exasperatedly and stopped her rant before turning around to chase after their other teammate. While she did feel somewhat better after venting her frustration, she wondered whether she had been a bit too harsh. She shrugged off the concern for her blonde teammate and focused on catching up to Sasuke. After all, she rejected Naruto all the time and he always bounced back. Why would this time be different, right?

* * *

Naruto however, felt like he had his heart ripped from his chest, then stepped on repeatedly, before being flushed down the toilet. Of all the times Sakura had rejected him, she had never been as harsh as she was now. Sure she had sometimes been rather blunt when she rejected him in the past, but she had never went as far to say that no girl in her right mind would go out with him. 

It was worse since he believed it would be true considering he was the container of the Kyubi and all. 

Tears threatened to fall, but he would not allow it. He had not cried for years from the hate of the villagers. And he would not cry now. He was stronger than that. But it hurt nonetheless. 

Naruto eventually bowed his head down low and sighed depressively. He tried to shake the depressing thoughts from his mind, but to no avail. Sakura's words continued to reverberate throughout his mind. 

Eventually, he decided that standing around won't change anything and decided to go home for some cup ramen to help him get over his misery. Ramen always made him feel better. 

Though normally he would go to Ichiraku's, but at the moment, he just wanted to be alone, so he could think. 

* * *

Yamanaka Ino, was a girl admired by many of her peers. 

She was beautiful and elegant earning the envy of many kunoichi her age. Her skills as a kunoichi were also not to be dismissed, as she was easily one of the best kunoichi of her generation. While she was not quite as book smart as her rival Haruno Sakura, her skills exceeded the pink haired girl in all other areas. 

However, she had one fatal flaw. And that was like most girls her age, she was also known as a fan girl of Uchiha Sasuke. 

But despite this she was kind and sympathetic when she wanted to be, at least she liked to think so. 

It was something she had picked up from selling flowers in her family shop. 

As they lived in a ninja village, a large portion of customers had been ninjas, and more often than not, flowers were bought as an offering to the dead or a gift to the hospitalised than for love interests. And as such, Ino had developed a sympathetic ear for those customers. Because of this, she had never liked to see others in misery especially those she knew. 

And when she found Naruto wallowing in misery as he walked down the street, shoulders slumped and head bowed, she couldn't help but to want to help. 

She was also immensely curious as to the reason the ever-cheerful boy looking so sad. Not even when Naruto had failed the genin graduation test did he look so pitiful. And thinking of which, she never did find out how the prankster had ended up passing the exam since she had watched him walk out of the academy that day with his head down and without a hitai-ate. 

So it was with a mixture of curiousness and pity that she approached the blonde haired boy. 

"Hey Naruto, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, just leave me alone" he mumbled softly and continued to walk.

Ino frowned slightly at being brushed of so rudely, but followed after him. 

"Come on, tell me what got you looking so gloomy" the blonde girl urged.

Naruto sighed knowing that the stubborn girl won't give up until he relented and stopped walking. There was an uncomfortable silence between them, until Naruto finally spoke. 

"Am I really that bad?" Naruto looked slowly up into her teal eyes, before looking back down at the ground.

"Huh?" Ino lifted her eyebrows perplexed at his question.

"Am I really that bad, that no girl would ever go out with me in a million years?" he repeated softly.

"Eh? Did forehead say that?"

Naruto just nodded without looking up. 

"Well, you are pretty annoying at times…" Ino blurted out without thought and winced slightly as Naruto seemed to slouch down even more. Making the boy more depressed was not why she had came up to him. 

Ino patted him in the back and decided that she should be completely honest, yet be gentle with the truth. 

"Look, Naruto, you are really loud at times. And that gets annoying a lot of times. And while the pranks are funny for a while, after a while it just got annoying. And you don't take your ninja training seriously. That's hardly attractive. And you're nowhere near as handsome as Sasuke-kun. And that jumpsuit you wear is really a BIG turn off". 

Naruto winced every time she mentioned one of his flaws, though he could help but to think it had been the truth. 

"So you're saying that if I'm quiet, a better ninja and didn't wear orange, then you'll go out with me?" Naruto asked hypothetically after a moment of contemplation, looking into her eyes. 

Ino grimaced at the thought of dating Naruto. Sure Naruto wasn't a bad guy, but to her, he was simply not the boyfriend material she looked for. Unsure how to respond in a way that would not hurt the boy's feelings, Ino simply looked away and stayed silent. 

Despite her silence, Naruto knew what it meant, and took it as a "no" to his question. He sighed and bowed his head once more, still somewhat depressed and began to walk away. 

"Thanks anyways Ino".

Ino stood there dumbfounded, staring at his back. What has he got to thank her for? If anything, she probably made him feel even worse than before. 

* * *

On top of the Hokage monument sat a young boy in deep thought. Naruto always liked this particular spot when he needed to think and reflect on his life. 

While his normal train of thoughts when he was here to think would be on why the villagers hated him. But this time his thoughts were on a certain girl and her words to him. 

'I should just give up on Sakura-chan… or any girl for that matter.'

The ramen he had consumed earlier did in fact make him feel much better. And now that he had clear his head enough, he began to think. 

He realised that he had to make a choice. There was no doubt that it was for the best to stop pursuing Sakura as a love interest. He had replayed all the memorable moments he had of his pink haired teammate in his mind. And came to a starling realisation that he had never felt any signs of affection from the girl. She barely even recognised his existence let alone his worth. Even the girl's rival acknowledged him somewhat, considering she had tried to cheer him up earlier despite failing at it. 

He supposed it was one of the reasons why he had been so adamant in gaining the girls attention. Acknowledgement was something he could not live without. It was what his existence and his life dream revolved around. And gaining the acknowledgement from someone that did not acknowledge him was what he strove for. 

However, she had not been the only one that did not acknowledge him. Almost the entire village had been guilty of that. And that led him to contemplate the true reason why he had been attracted to the girl in the first place. 

After several moments of reflecting, he believed that it began simply as an act to prove himself against Uchiha Sasuke. The last Uchiha of Konoha was the antithesis to Naruto's life. While he had been known as the dead last and dobe, Uchiha Sasuke was known as a genius and incredibly talented shinobi. And the fact that Sasuke had the acknowledgement of many in the village all because of his Uchiha lineage grated on his nerves when he had to fight for every ounce of recognition. 

It was natural for him to challenge the one who was the complete opposite to his existence. To prove who was better, to prove that he could change the minds of the villagers. And challenge the boy he did, though so far without success. 

But somewhere along the line, he had somehow come to the notion that winning over the Uchiha's number one follower would be the ultimate way for him to prove himself the better. 

Despite his initial petty reasons for his pursuit of Sakura's affection, he eventually came to genuinely like the girl. She was intelligent, and it was something he had admired, not to mention she was one of the prettiest girls he knew, despite her large forehead that had been the brunt of many jokes from those of their age group. 

He had always known that Sakura would never be interested in him in a romantic sense, especially not when she was so engrossed in gaining Sasuke's attention for herself. But he would always delude himself to think that he had a chance. The stubborn part of him simply would not accept defeat. Especially not against Sasuke. 

But it was time he ended his endeavour to win his crush's heart. Sakura had made that perfectly clear that it would be a waste of time. 

Though here lies the dilemma. Should he search for and pursue other girls or give up entirely? 

Naruto shook his head slightly at the thought. When he came to think about it, he had never really even thought about the kind of girls he liked. 

Firstly, he wanted someone mature. Someone that would acknowledge and appreciate him. They would also have to support him in his dream to become Hokage. 

But most importantly, they must accept him despite having Kyubi sealed within him. 

'But the only ones that fit the bill are women much older than me' Naruto mused.

Not that he minded being with older women. In fact, he could argue that he preferred the company of older women, as long as they accepted him and not hate him. 

Naruto supposed that it was because older women are not as shallow as girls his age. Most girls his age were attracted to Sasuke simply because of his looks despite his cold attitude. It was also the reason he did not get along with most girls in his age group. 

But Naruto grimaced slightly at the irony, considering he had been crushing on one of the worst offenders for a long time. 

Then again, older women are unlikely to even look his way. After all, on top of having Kyubi sealed in him, he was known as an idiot and that's after assuming that an older woman did not mind the age gap. And to top it off, he wasn't good looking, at least according to Sakura and even Ino.

This led him to a decision. He was unlikely to find a girlfriend anytime soon. On the other hand, he was still young. If he did not pursue a love life, then he would concentrate on his neglected training so he could one day become Hokage. 

At the moment, it would seem that focusing on training was for the best, and likely give him the most chance for success. 

His mind then wondered to his talk with Ino. While it did not help him feel any better at the time, he did appreciate the honesty. 

He knew the Yamanaka girl was right. He was loud, and his pranks while funny did not help him become a good ninja. 

It had always been a matter of gaining attention. As he did not receive any acknowledgement, he sought it out through different methods by being loud and playing pranks. He even went as far as to wear flashy clothes like the orange jumpsuit he currently wore. Not that he didn't like orange, in fact, he love the colour orange and his jumpsuit. 

Still, his approach had been only effective to a certain degree. While he did get some attention, it had all been in the negative sense, and because he played pranks by skipping class, his grades in the academy slipped. 

But despite this downside, Naruto received more attention in his entire life, and even with the threat of failing the academy, he could not bring himself to stop. 

And despite the lectures on seeing underneath the underneath, few could see underneath this cheerful and idiotic mask he had build up over time by playing pranks. It also served to conceal the sadness that was all too apparent in his eyes to those who knew where to look. If there was anything he truly hated, it was to be pitied. He would rather be hated than be pitied. Not that he would ever be caught brooding like the Uchiha. He'd never live it down otherwise. 

Naruto decided that if he were to take being a ninja seriously, now that he had given up on Sakura, things had to change. 

Simply, it was time to stop playing the fool. 

It would be hard to change as he had acted this way for so long that the facade had practically become part of himself. But now that he had made the decision, he would stick by it. 

Naruto also knew right now, he was not a good ninja. His poor performance against his sensei during the bell test had been proof of that. And concentrating on training would help him achieve his life goal to become the Hokage in the long run. 

Naruto snorted slightly. What would he know? He was never good at long term planning and strategy anyways. Though he was known to have random bouts of ingenuity. 

And what had Ino said about his clothes? Naruto grimaced slightly. He really liked his clothes dammit!

They were his favourite colour. It was his favourite suit after all. Sure, the colour was bright and attracted attention like beating someone in the head with a sign that said 'LOOK AT ME!', but he didn't see the problem with it. Sure it wasn't a colour ninjas wear, but he didn't see anyone complaining about Sakura's bright red clothes. So stealth wasn't really the problem… 

Naruto sighed again and looked upwards at the sky and rubbed his face with his hands. 

'Perhaps it was time for a change… Troublesome…'

Naruto snorted. He was starting to sound like that bum Shikamaru. 

* * *

Naruto quickly decided that the moment he returned home, the first order of business was to find something different to wear. After all, if he were to change himself, simply by looking different would help in making him feel and act differently. 

He unlocked his door and closed it behind him absently, before walking straight to his room with purpose in his steps. 

He slid open his closet and looked at the clothes he had in his wardrobe. 

Orange, orange, more orange…. 

Naruto scratched his head. Aside from a few t-shirts and shorts and several sets of pyjamas, he didn't have anything that wasn't orange. While he decided that there was no problem with orange, all he had for ninja wear were identical sets of the same orange jumpsuit, which he currently wore. And he had already decided that he would wear something different. 

But Naruto noted that aside from the jumpsuit, he didn't have anything for a ninja. The several t-shirts and shorts he had simply weren't practical. The fabric and stitching simply wasn't made with durability in mind. 

Naruto decided to take out the sets of orange jumpsuit from his closet so he could throw them out later. 

But to his surprise he found a large white coat hidden behind several sets of jumpsuits. 

It was a long sleeved white coat that went to his knees like a cloak, with orange lining on the inside and a large orange spiral on the back. 

Naruto pulled the coat from his closet and rubbed the fabric between his fingers. The blonde smiled fondly at the coat that had been a gift from the Sandaime for his last birthday. His smiled deepened as he recalled that Sandaime had gotten the cape for him after he had made an offhanded remark that he had wished he had a cool looking cape like the Yondaime after seeing a picture of him. 

It had been too large for him at the time to wear and even after he had grown tall enough, he had decided that it did not go well with his favourite jumpsuit. He had never worn the cloak and over time forgotten that he had it. 

But now, if he was to change, he might as well wear it, otherwise it would eventually go to waste. 

Naruto realised that he still had to purchase some new clothes to wear underneath the cape and he groaned slightly. He always hated shopping unless it involved spending his money on ramen. It wasn't because shopkeepers gave him trouble because of Kyubi or something like that. They just ignored him if anything. But it was the fact that he found clothes shopping so damn boring. 

If it was anything that Naruto was not, it was not boring.

Deciding to get the shopping done quickly, Naruto left the house in the direction of a store that sold ninja equipment. 

He quickly picked out several sets of clothing, paid for it, and returned home. 

Once back inside his apartment, he quickly entered his room and deposited the bags of clothing onto his bed. 

He then quickly changed into his new clothes, eager to test out his new look like a child with his new toy. 

The sleeves of the dark blue, almost violet long sleeve top was a bit loose due to his thin arms. He had never been one to train to increase the size of his muscles, opting for a leaner and more toned body instead. His body and skeletal structure was of a wiry type anyways. 

He procured several pieces of string from a drawer beside his bed and tied the sleeve to his arm at the wrist and under the elbow so they clung to his arm and not get in the way during a fight. 

The black shinobi pants were slightly loose, but not too baggy. Just the way he liked them, although they were a bit too loose around the waist without a belt. 

Naruto untied the knot on the back of his head, removing his hitai-ate from his forehead. He absently brushed aside his bangs that fell over his eyes. He placed the hitai-ate at his waist and used the blue fabric as a belt. 

He looked into the wardrobe mirror to check his look. His outfit looked too simple, like the average shinobi. And while Naruto decided that he would no longer actively attract attention, it did not mean he wanted to look and be like the average ninja. He would never settle for being average. 

He removed the Hitai-ate, then replaced the blue fabric with orange fabric he torn from his old suits. After spending ten or so minutes trimming and replacing the fabric, he fed the fabric through the loops on his pants and tied the ends securely behind him as a belt. 

The demon container then donned his white cape and looked into the wardrobe mirror. 

He grinned. He had to admit that he looked quite good in the new outfit. 

He was barely recognisable and looked like a new person. 

Precisely what he was aiming for. And the more he looked at himself, the more be began to like his new look. 

Being satisfied with his new look, Naruto changed his thought to the next part of his change. His training schedule. 

He had no idea to go about his training and decided that some research was in order. Naruto groaned slightly at that thought, as he hated to read and study. But he surmised that if he were to become a good ninja sacrifices had to be made. And the only way to make up for the knowledge he did not learn in the academy was to study extra hard. 

But on the bright side, he now had access to the ninja archives now that he was officially a genin. The scrolls and books in the archive are much more useful than those from the Konoha public library. All he had to do was to get permission from the Hokage himself. 

* * *

The walk to the Hokage tower had been weird for Naruto. Most of the older generation villagers and ninja gave him a look that he could not completely decipher. Though they did seem to be a little shocked and surprised. 

It made Naruto a little unnerved as he had expected the usual fearful and scathing glances. 

Even the younger generation looked at him differently, particularly the female population that gave him looks that were familiar but he had no clue where he had seen it before. 

Naruto quickened his pace slightly nervous at the way people looked at him. 

'Maybe changing my clothes wasn't a good idea. What was with those looks anyways? Bah, why do I care'. 

Gaining permission to access the archives was simple, though the Hokage had been smirking somewhat evilly at him, which further unnerved him. 

He quickly left the Hokage's office to the room, which contained the genin level archive. 

* * *

Meanwhile Sarutobi sat in his seat while smoking his pipe. A smirk etched itself onto his face. 

'So he's wearing that cape I gave him. He looks just like you… Yondaime' 

The coat had been his plan to get the villagers to change their mind about Naruto. He had been a bit disappointed when Naruto did not wear the coat when he had first given it to the boy. It gave the villagers just enough clues to link to become suspicious of Naruto's relationship to the Yondaime, although not quite enough to prove or disprove anything. 

He wasn't going to publicly announce the truth. At least not yet. But it would be enough to create doubt within the minds of the villagers that had treated Naruto poorly. And they would more likely to hesitate in treating the boy poorly. 

* * *

Naruto gasped slightly in awe at the sight in front of him as he entered the archives. 

In front of him were thousands upon thousands of scrolls organised into rows and rows of shelves. 

Naruto went to a table at the studying area and pulled a chair from under the table with a lousy squeaking noise and slowly sat down onto the wooden chair. 

He rubbed his chin one hand and began to think.

'With the way my training is going now, I won't be able to improve much. What I need to do is find a direction and perhaps some training methods. And while I'm at it, I might be able to find some genin level ninjutsu techniques. And it would be good to find anything that would build on my existing jutsu knowledge. But I won't be able to do much…. It'll take days just to find and read all the scrolls I need. That leaves no time left for actual training. Not to mention the stuff I need to make up for that I didn't learn in the academy. I'll have to cut down the time I need to gather information. But how?'

If only he had extra people to help finding what he need. 

Naruto froze in thought. 'Extra people?' 

He pondered for a few seconds on the plausibility of his idea before smirking. 

'Kage bunshin no jutsu'

Naruto quickly formed the seal and produced 20 clones. 

The original Naruto called out an order, "Alright guys, each of you bring back a scroll that you find useful and bring it back within ten minutes". 

"Hai!" A resounding affirmative came from all the clones as they all moved in different directions. 

The real Naruto then walked towards the isle labelled 'Charkra Basics'. 

* * *

A few minutes later, the clones each brought back a scroll. A pile of scrolls now lay on top of the table. Naruto then dispersed the clones. A rush of information flowed through his mind letting him know the position of several scrolls within the multitude of scrolls in the archive the clones had spotted that could potentially be useful as future reading.

Naruto blinked slightly and analysed his surprise when he realised he had gotten some of the memories the clones had gained. While the Kage bunshin had been a skill he had only recently learned, he had not realised the technique's ability to accumulate information. 

He thought back to the times he had used the jutsu. Aside from the time he used the Harem no jutsu on the closet pervert sensei of Konohamaru, he had only used it in combat situations. First with Mizuki, and the other time with Kakashi sensei during the bell test. Both times he remembered that he had noticed something unusual when he dispersed the clones. He had brushed it aside at the time as he was in a situation which he could not waste time analysing what it was that he felt, as he was more concern with both Iruka's injury and passing Kakashi's test. 

But then, the memories he had gotten that time had not been especially obvious that it had been from a clone. 

But that may be due to the fact that he fought mostly using his instincts, more so than studying and analysing his opponent. The clones simply didn't use their brain as much, and the clarity and usefulness of the information was not quite as apparent. 

He also suspected that at the time he might have confused the extra memories with his own. This maybe because both the clones and himself had been entirely focused on a mutual goal. And clones that perform an entirely independent action to the original should make the memories much more apparent that it had originated from a clone. 

Deciding to consult the texts to confirm his suspicion, Naruto picked out the scroll on the table that labelled 'Kage bunshin no jutsu and related jutsu'.

The blonde demon container unrolled the scroll and quickly browsed through the contents. 

He had been right. The Kage bunshin did have the side effect of the user learning everything the clone had. 

As he continued to read, the wider his eyes became. He was in awe at the usefulness of the jutsu. Since the scroll he held in his hands was from the genin level restricted section of the archive, it did not contain the hand signs and actual training methods for the jutsu. But there was still a fairly in depth summary of what the technique can do and the ways it could be used. There was also some information on related jutsus. 

Naruto pondered whether to take advantage of the information gathering capabilities of the jutsu. It felt a little like he was cheating by studying with clones. But the blonde haired boy quickly dismissed the thought. After all, they were ninja, not samurai and swordsmen. Ninja used any means necessary to become stronger. 

The word honour shouldn't even exist in a ninja's vocabulary. 

Deciding to take advantage of the information gathering capabilities of the jutsu, Naruto summoned twenty clones once again. 

Naruto quickly formed the seal and once again summoned 20 clones, which he ordered to pick a scroll from the table and start reading. 

* * *

By the time Naruto had finished reading the scroll on Kage bunshin, it was already 6 in the evening. 

He rolled up the scroll in his hand and placed it on the table in front of him. Naruto looked around him and found that eight of his clones had finished reading their scroll.

Being impatient as ever, Naruto immediately dispersed the clones that had finished reading and a rush of information once again flowed into his mind along with a mild headache. 

Naruto shook his head as if trying to shake the pain away, only for him to make the pain more severe. So he simply sat still in his seat and wait till he felt better. He made a note to disperse the clones one at a time, when the rest of the clones finished reading. 

By the time the pain was gone, the rest of the clones were done reading their scroll. This time, Naruto dispersed the twelve remaining clones one by one, 30 seconds apart and he was relieved that he did not develop a headache again.

Naruto spent the next several minutes replacing the scrolls he had read to where he had gotten them. Then he returned to where he sat before and reviewed everything he had learnt from the texts. 

From the scroll he had found on Kage bunshin he had learned that the technique evenly distributes a user's charkra between clones. The clones disperse after a single hit. Naruto concluded that the clones would be most effective when they don't get hit. This would mean that his clones either should attack from a range using weapons and ninjutsu or engage in taijutsu without getting hit. 

Naruto made a mental note to train in speed and dodging exercises. 

He also thought that using ninjutsu with clones to take advantage of the divided charkra supply in each clone would be a good idea. 

After some thinking he also realised that if overwhelming numbers are to be used to wear an opponent out, then summoning a large number in one go would be more efficient than summoning the same number of clones in successive smaller groups at a time, as each clone would have a larger average charkra supply in the larger group. 

The accompanying jutsu for the Kage bunshin were also very interesting to Naruto. 

He could easily see the usefulness and versatility of the Shuriken kage bunshin. While he did not know how to perform the technique, he believed that he could recreate it using a mixture of kage bunshin, henge and some trial and error. 

And the description of bunshin daibakuha simply made Naruto drool. Exploding clones? It would be devastating if he could learn it. Unfortunately, the scroll did not contain any more detail on the jutsu apart from it being clones that explode and nothing on the inner workings of the jutsu. 

Naruto was not discouraged however, and decided that he would spend sometime doing trial and error tests to learn how to make his clones explode. Perhaps he had to make the charkra in his clones unstable somehow. 

He had also read the basics of charkra and the composition of body energy and spiritual energy. He decided that further research should be done on this topic as he believed that different jutsu required different compositions of each energy type. Taijutsu obviously related more to body energy, and genjutsu a larger composition of spiritual energy, and ninjutsu likely a more even balanced composition of both. If he were correct, then isolating and utilising the pure form would be more efficient in some cases. And it would be likely that he would become impervious to most genjutsu if he could utilise spirit energy in it's purest form. But it was still merely a theory, and he had yet to prove or disprove his hypothesis. 

The scrolls taijutsu training methods he found revealed that weighted clothing was an effective way to improve strength and speed in relatively short amounts of time, though it places the most strain on the body. It was a method rarely used since the likelihood of injury is exceptionally high, making the training unproductive for most people. 

Naruto gathered that getting himself some weights while doing lots and lots of running as well as physical conditioning exercises was a good direction for training if he wanted to get strong quick. 

He had also picked out some low level jutsu that he could learn. He memorised the hand seals and training method for the Katon: Housenka no jutsu, Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu and Shunshin no jutsu for later.

The blonde resolved that he would practice the jutsus as soon as he can. 

But first, it was getting late, and he was hungry. It was time for some ramen…. 

* * *

When Naruto arrived at the bridge the next morning, his teammates had already arrived. 

Sakura was as usual pestering the raven-haired boy for a date with no success. 

On force of habit Naruto moved to greet Sakura. But he quickly caught himself mid stride, before approaching silently and standing slightly away from the other two. 

Naruto grimaced slightly as he realised that giving up on Sakura was harder than he thought. He had to actively watch what he did so he would not fall back onto old habits. 

He decided that he should stay as inconspicuous as possible and talk as less as possible, so he won't revert to fawning over Sakura. 

Naruto leaned against a post and looked towards his teammates. 

Sasuke looked at him and raised his eyebrows a little. Naruto shrugged at him. The Uchiha scoffed and turned away uncaring. To him, no matter how Naruto dressed, it wouldn't make him any less of a dobe. 

Sakura gave Sasuke a confused look before looking around her. 

Sakura's eyes widened slightly at the sight of Naruto's new look. 

She had to admit that it was a big improvement from before. In fact, he even looked good. Not that she would ever admit to thinking that. But what shocked her was that it seemed like the Blonde had arrived for a while, and yet he did not pester her like usual, nor was he as loud as usual. The boy simply had ignored her. 

Sakura wondered what had brought on the change and remember what had happened the day before. She felt guilty for being so harsh. While she did not feel guilty for turning down Naruto, she felt bad for being excessively harsh. Even if she did have a bad day it was no reason to take it out on him. 

"Err… You look different today, why the sudden change?" Sakura finally broke the silence. 

Naruto swallowed the words that were about to blurt out unthinkingly, before he shrugged and just replied. "Just felt like it was time for a change. Sakura". 

He inwardly berated himself, as he had to once again force himself not to be quiet and not to brag. 

Sakura on the other hand winced and felt a pang in her chest for reasons she did not understand. For all the time she had known Naruto, he had always called her Sakura-chan. Even though she had wished that he stopped calling her that, now that he did, she felt strangely disappointed. 

Things stayed silent between the team members after that exchange, although Sakura did occasionally snuck concern filled glances at the blonde. 

2 hours later Kakashi arrived to the sight of the team quietly waiting for once. 

"Yo!"

Kakashi looked at Naruto who had always been the loudest of the group, whom surprisingly did not comment on his tardiness. His single exposed eye widened in surprise as he took in his blonde haired student's new look

If not for his mask, one would be able to see his jaw dropping and mouth gaping. 

Naruto looked like… like his sensei…. 

He wondered briefly whether it was purely a coincidence the boy looked so much like the Yondaime or not. Kakashi quickly regained his composure as he saw the expectant look on Naruto's face. It surprised him even more as Naruto would usually be yelling like a hyperactive child by now. He didn't know whether the sudden change was a good thing or not, so he quickly focused on business and decided to just observe Naruto for now. 

"Well, team… We have a mission to get to…."

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

The chapter is about Naruto's change and his reason for changing. Naruto probably seems a bit OOC and a bit too smart, but I always thought that Naruto isn't as stupid as he looked, mostly uneducated and unfocused, considering some of the plans and tricks he pulled off in fights. Naruto can be surprisingly insightful when paying attention. I believe him creating the Uzumaki Naruto rendan was proof of this. And Kakashi commented on it also. The way I see it, Naruto had enough observation and analytical skills to find the advantage of the technique and modifying the technique to offset his own weakness. Something that could only be done by the most talented ninja. 

So, I believe if he was focused more on training, then he could become stronger much quicker. That might explain how he gotten strong so quickly before and after the exams, as he was focused on training to defeat Neji and to match Sasuke after he witnessed him use the chidori. 

Anyways tell me what you think. And some advice would be nice to help me improve my writing. I'm getting better at showing the thoughts of characters, but my use of descriptive words and imagery isn't that great, so describing environment, action and the like isn't easy for me. 


	2. Chapter 2: Training

CHAPTER 2 – TRAINING 

* * *

Naruto was pleased to find that his intense training was paying off. Even though it had only been two weeks since he had started, he could feel that he was improving at a rapid rate. 

Naruto noticed that as time went pass, the frequency of Sakura being on his mind became less and less. And the tendency to fall back to doting over her was beginning to fade. 

And although he knew he had potential to become a good ninja, he never knew that he was capable of improving so much just by being focused on training. But the result speaks for itself. His progress had been more than he had hoped. 

Each day, he would wake up extra early to run laps around Konoha to build up his speed, after a light breakfast. He had started on body weights at 10kg on each limb, which he concealed underneath his clothing and it was steadily increasing. 

He would continue the running until it was time for team meeting. 

Afterwards, the team would complete a day of D rank missions or team training. They would then be dismissed at around 3 in the afternoon if there were no team training. Naruto would then find some food for lunch before moving to the forests on the outskirts of Konoha to train. He would then spend four hours purely on ninjutsu which he trained in while using as many Kage bunshin as he could summon to help him learn jutsu. 

He would stop for dinner and allow for a short break in order for the food to settle. After which, he would return to the forest to do physical training. Each night, he would push himself to the limit by doing countless push ups, sit ups, squats and other exercises to the point of exhaustion. 

In a mere two weeks, he had learned the Shunshin no jutsu and both Katon jutsus he had picked out. 

He had also figured out the Shuriken Kage Bunshin no jutsu quickly. 

The Bunshin Daibakuha however, gave Naruto the most trouble. Many hours were taken just to experiment ways that could make clones explode. He believed that he was starting to find clues as to how to detonate his Kage Bunshin.

Still, he was not entirely satisfied with his progress, as he wanted to be able to master the techniques he learnt. This meant that he would not be satisfied until he could not only perform jutsu instantaneously, but also without hand seals. While it is nearly impossible to do higher level jutsu without hand seals, most of the jutsu he knew were fairly simple and require few hand seals. So far, he had learnt to do the Kawarimi and Henge without hand signs. 

Once he had gotten to that point, Naruto knew he was ready to proceed to the next level of training. With some more time, he had no doubt that he would be able to master everything he had learnt. And his physical conditioning depended on how fast his body adapts to the weights he wore. 

Having no idea how to move onto the level, Naruto decided that more research was in order. And he returned to the archive again for inspiration. 

* * *

Naruto sighed disappointedly as he rolled up the scroll he had just read. He had thought that researching the strongest ninja of Konoha, namely the Hokage would give him much inspiration for his training. 

But disappointingly, the information he found didn't help him as much as he had hoped. Each Hokage had mostly used skills and jutsu unknown to anyone else or used jutsu that was not genin level. 

Naruto had then stumbled across the mention of the legendary Sannin due to their association with the third and fourth Hokage. The information on Orochimaru and Jiraiya had not been useful as they too, predominantly used high-level ninjutsu.

Now that he had finished up on reading two of the three Sannin, Naruto hoped that the scrolls on Tsunade would help further his training. 

He was pleasantly surprised to find the scroll on the last Sannin to be a gold mine of useful information. 

While he could not make sense of the jutsu Tsunade used such as the Ranshinsho and the high level Sozo Saisei, which were heavily based on high-level medical knowledge, he did find her superhuman strength particularly interesting. 

Naruto knew that his fighting style had never been about grace. Rather, he relied on brute strength and unpredictability. It was a bad way to fight and he knew it, as he was nothing more than a common brawler that had better strength, speed and reflex. 

But a technique such as this could easily offset his weakness in his taijutsu. The notion of ending fights quickly and decisively with one super powered punch made him incredibly excited. 

The description on the technique in the scrolls had been surprisingly detailed. Though Naruto supposed that it was because it was not expected that the technique could be replicated, as perfect charkra control was needed.

Naruto pieced together some of the clues for him to recreate the technique. He knew after reading on the basics of charkra that he had charkra reserves well above the average ninja. Naturally, it had the drawback of causing his charkra control to be poor. And he knew that even with years of training, perfect control would be beyond him. 

He did not feel discouraged however. He would simply have to do what he did best. Adaptation. He was known for sudden unexpected ingenious thinking and extreme adaptability. Modifying techniques on a whim is something that came easy for him. 

The Oiroke no jutsu had been a product of this. After all it was merely an application of the henge no jutsu, yet the effectiveness of the jutsu itself against perverts could not be denied. 

And in this case, Naruto had a vague idea on how to replicate the technique. He believed that he could compensate charkra control with overwhelming amounts of charkra, which he had an abundance of. 

The original technique involved releasing a significant amount of charkra focused onto a single point released from multiple tenketsu points with perfect timing. 

Theoretically, he could recreate a similar effect by using excessive amounts of charkra. It wouldn't completely mimic the original technique of course, as it would definitely be weaker than the original. But if it worked liked he believed, then it would still be devastating in a fight. 

He moved out to the training grounds to test his theory. 

But when he tested it by gathering large amounts of charkra into his fists for a punch, most of it simply bled off, wasting most of the power. His timing by releasing charkra from several tenketsu was also not simultaneous, and neither could he perfectly focus into a single point. 

Successive attempts ended the same and with no visible improvement every time. The result was just like any other charkra-enhanced punch.

Naruto came to the conclusion that his control simply wasn't good enough even when the technique had been modified. 

* * *

Naruto lifted his leg slightly from the water below him, and placed it back onto the surface. When his sandal touched the water, he noticed that he no longer created ripples in the water where he made contact. He took this as a sign that he had finally mastered the water walking. 

He decided to test his mastery by walking, then eventually running across the surface of the water. 

Again, no ripples. 

Naruto smiled proudly to himself. He had surprised himself with how quickly he had mastered the water walking. 

It had taken him several days to finally master tree walking before he moved on to the water walking. During that time, he had postponed most of his other training so he could complete the control exercise. 

And while it had taken a few days to learn tree walking, water walking had only taken him several hours. 

But now that he had gotten his control to a satisfactory level, it was time to get back to his normal schedule. He had no time to waste, as he had to make up for the last few days. 

He walked out of the small lake he had been training atop and moved towards a back pack that lay on the ground not too far from edge of the lake. 

Naruto set himself onto the ground before unzipping the bag. He pulled out a several small pieces of metal from the bag and set them on the ground. 

He then slid the sleeve of his white coat to his elbows revealing a small pouch that was tied to his forearm over his blue long sleeve top. He opened the pouch, which was sown with separate compartments. He inserted the pieces of metal into the pouches on both arms before strapping them back onto his arm. 

He did the same for the weights he hid under his pant legs. He made sure the added weight on each limb was the same.

Naruto slowly stood up, straining slightly from the weight. He now wore 20kg per limb. While that was not a lot of weight when he used charkra to enhance his muscles, he could barely move when he didn't. And the purpose of the weights was to build up his muscles. 

According to the scrolls he had read, he was progressing with body weights much more quickly than the average person. 

He had also noticed his incredible recovery rate after he found that he wasn't as tired as he should be after an especially intense night of training. And interestingly, the more severe the damage was to his body, the faster he healed. As he had noticed that the harsher his training was, the less muscle pains he felt the next day. It was undoubtedly the influence of Kyubi, although he wouldn't be complaining any time soon as it allowed him to get accustomed to his weights that much quicker. 

Breaking temporarily from his thoughts, Naruto moved to a large wooden post and began to throw punch after punch at the post from each arm alternately. 

His stomach rumbled slightly, which distracted him slightly, but he forcefully suppressed his hunger. It was not yet time to think about food. He would hunt for some food later. 

He remembered that he had recently begun hunting for food, so he could hone his survival and tracking skills. Naruto also noticed his increasing appetite, which was also a reason he decided to hunt. His budget simply didn't allow him to eat the amount he was currently eating. At least not without sacrificing other things. 

He thought jokingly that he could probably out eat an Akimichi. 

* * *

Sakura snuck another glance at her blonde teammate as the team walked towards the Hokage tower to report the success of their latest mission. 

It had been a month after team 7 officially began and 3 weeks after Naruto's sudden change. 

While she didn't speak a word of it, she was somewhat perturbed. This Naruto just didn't seem like the Naruto that she knew. Although in the back of her mind, she wondered whether she really knew him at all. 

Feel eyes on him, Naruto turned to them finding Sakura glancing intently at him. 

"What is it Sakura?"

Sakura's frown furrowed. This was one of the many changes the blonde had undergone. He hadn't once called her Sakura-chan since he arrived at their meeting place that day 3 weeks ago. She didn't understand why, but she was sad that he was no longer doting on her, and she even missed hearing his affectionate call of "Sakura-chan".

Though she knew she was selfish. Having Naruto fight to gain her attention was a great boost to her ego, especially considering she did not have good self-esteem when she was younger. 

She quickly battered the thought aside. Why should she be sad whether he called her Sakura-chan or not? It was Sasuke that she loved. Right? 

"Nothing" Sakura quickly answered. 

Naruto raised his eyes curiously at her nervousness, but just shrugged it off. 

This was another thing that troubled Sakura. Before his change, Naruto would most likely continue to pester her until either she revealed what it was that bothered her, or until she started to beat him up for annoying her. But these last few weeks, while he remained friendly towards her, Naruto no longer seemed to go out of his way to gain her attention. 

At times, he was even quiet. Sure, he still joked around and participated in conversations and was generally talkative, but for a lack of better word, she could say he no longer seemed like he was hyperactive. 

She didn't really know what to think about his changes. The more she looked at him, the more she found the previously unattractive boy to be better looking, with the way his hair now fell over his forehead, his slight gain in height and especially that aura of determination that surrounded him. 

Where previously if Naruto had boasted that he would become Hokage, people would laugh at him. But with that new aura of confidence and determination now, if he said that, she would almost be inclined to believe him. 

And now that he no longer acted like he was a child on sugar high, Sakura noticed that he was much more likeable. 

And that alone worried her. 

Sakura quickly put these thoughts aside for the moment, and decided that convincing Sasuke to go on a date with her was much more important. 

Meanwhile Kakashi was contemplating the mystery that was Naruto. Even though he had his face in his book as they walked, he thoughts were elsewhere. 

It had been three weeks since the boy had suddenly changed. He had become much quieter and much more contemplative. While the boy was still somewhat talkative and cheery, one could see that there was something much deeper to the boy beneath the surface. 

That wasn't a problem in itself. In fact, he was happy to see the boy starting to mature and began to take his job as a ninja much more seriously. 

However, there seemed to be a growing tension between the team, or rather between Sakura and Naruto. It was subtle and barely noticeable, but his observation skills were top notch. 

The masked jounin stole a quick glance out of his single exposed eye at Sakura, who was walking ahead of him. On the surface, the girl seemed to be talking to Sasuke animatedly who ignored her. 

But looking underneath the underneath, he perceived that the girl's mind seemed to wander from time to time. Even her actions seemed to be running on autopilot. The things she said seemed to be things she often said on habit. 

After studying the girl for some time, Kakashi suspected that the cause had been the Kyubi vessel. 

Kakashi looked out of the corner of his eye at said blonde who walked next to him with his hands in his pockets. Kakashi sweat dropped a little as the boy seemed to be completely oblivious to the going ons of the team. And he was not sure what the vacant look on the blonde's face meant. It looked like he was daydreaming or deep in thought. 

But as he reviewed the team's performance in his mind, he did not discover anything that hindered their teamwork. In fact, the productivity and efficiency of the team had increased ever since Naruto had stopped constantly whinging about their missions. 

And while the team wasn't quite bonding as well as he had hoped, they worked fairly well as a team and their teamwork was steadily improving with every training session and completion of a mission. 

So it was for this reason that the copy nin decided that Naruto's change was not a cause for concern. At least not yet. The most he could do now was continue to observe his team. 

So, Kakashi merely returned to reading his favourite book.

* * *

Beside Kakashi, Naruto was contemplating the results of his training in the last several weeks. In less than a month he had possibly made more progress than all the years he spent in the academy. It was all because he was now much more focused and hardworking. 

He knew that he wasn't a genius. Skills did not come to him as naturally as it did for others. On the other hand, he recognized that he also had a lot of latent potential. Potential that had been going to waste, and was now only recently being uncovered. 

He knew that, as learning a high-level jutsu like the Kage bunshin in a span of several hours would be considered close to impossible. 

His natural speed had increased significantly. He suspected that he was nearing his teammate Sasuke's level, although he didn't know how much his of his teammate had kept hidden. And he also now had several useful ninjutsu in his arsenal. 

But there was still a large flaw in his abilities. While his ninjutsu was improving steadily, his taijutsu skills were still unrefined and would be considered below average at best. While he was likely to win against Sakura in a taijutsu match whom although was much more graceful than he, she would still lose if only because of his higher level of strength and speed and more importantly, his ability to absorb large amounts of damage. 

He knew all the basics of taijutsu, like how to properly throw a punch, as well as an assortment of different types of strikes using different body parts. But he knew if he were to become a better fighter he would need to refine his style. He summed up that his weakness was the lack of grace and precision. 

The scrolls on Tsunade had given him some ideas. Although he was not interested in the occupation of a medic nin, he did find some of their abilities to be useful and applicable in his case. If he learned where to strike to cause maximum damage, he would improve drastically. 

Considering medic nins rarely engage in straight out combat, they rarely used ninjutsu, opting for taijutsu to conserve charkra for when medical ninjutsu was needed to heal. Their taijutsu style was interesting as it revolved around avoiding attacks until the perfect opportunity arises, with which they would counter attack using precise strikes to high damage areas of the anatomy or pressure points to quickly end the fight with the least amount of effort. 

Without medic training, he would not be able to use the Shosen jutsu to cut a person's muscle fibres. But the use of pressure points seemed to be a good idea. 

He had researched all taijutsu styles in Konoha that revolved around precision strikes. The Juuken had come up several times. 

Unlike the Hyuga clan, he could not see tenketsu without the Byakugan. And since the tenketsu location varies from person to person, he would never be able to use the Juuken. 

But unlike tenketsu points, which are related to the charkra circulatory system, pressure points are related to the nervous system of the body, and thus are in roughly the same position in different people depending on their size. He could theoretically be able to locate the same pressure point on different people if he had the knowledge and skill to do so. 

And if he could do so, he could cause similar results as the Juuken using pressure points. 

It was a good direction to improve his taijutsu, and he planned to use all of his ideas to create a new style that suited him. It would have to be devastatingly fast, takes advantage of the body's mechanics but most importantly, completely unpredictable. 

But he had filed the thoughts away as he noticed that his team had arrived at the tower. 

They arrived outside the Hokage's office. Naruto stood aside slightly to allow the rest of his team to enter the room first. He then entered behind them. 

He cursed under his breath when he accidentally banged his elbow on the doorframe.

The rest of his team and the Hokage stared at him in amusement, Kakashi in particular. 

He glared slightly at his sensei, who was looking at him with an amused look. Bastards! Laughing at his misfortune. And it hadn't been the first time today either. He had stubbed his foot several times and banged elbows against random objects that he tried to avoid but still somehow seemed to collide with. 

Kakashi on the other hand was amused with his student. He was sure the boy had yet to realise that his sudden clumsiness was due to a small growth spurt. The blonde was oblivious to it, but he had grown almost an inch in the last several weeks. 

Kakashi shook his head slightly and turned to face the Hokage. 

"Hokage-sama. Hatake Kakashi and team 7, here to report: Mission completed…." 

* * *

The masked jounin dismissed the team for the day after the report. Naruto took that as a cue to return to his training. After bidding his teammates goodbye, he revisited the archives to read up on anything that could help him create his new fighting style. 

He would have to memorise and find a large number of pressure points. But that would not be much of a problem if he used Kage bunshins to learn. Not only could he use them to help memorise the locations, he could practice locating the points on his clones and experiment with the effects of the points without adverse effects to himself. 

The problem was increasing his accuracy and more importantly, learning how to channel charkra into a finger and into the enemy.

Naruto spent the next two hours reading and learning as much as he could about pressure points before packing up his reading material and moving to a training area. 

Once he arrived at his training ground, he created a mass of 50 clones. He then sent half of those to practice in finding and hitting pressure points. 

He then commanded the rest of the clones to continue recreating Tsunade's super strength technique. 

After all the clones had spread out to different areas of the training ground to train, Naruto focused his thoughts on creating the technique. 

He lifted his hand and clenched his fist tightly. He closed his eyes in concentration and moulded some charkra and directed it to his fist, feeling the warmth of the energy moving through his arm and accumulating at the fist. After he felt that he had collected a suitable amount of charkra, he opened his eyes abruptly and thrust his fist into the ground. 

A loud thud made way to his ears, but what he saw did not please him. Even though he had improved his charkra control by leaps and bounds, this was all he had been capable of. There was a fairly deep imprint of his fist where it made contact. The ground around the print was cracked slightly. 

There was no doubt his punching strength had improved from before significantly due to an improved ability to channel charkra to enhance his punch. But the result of the punch was far from impressive. 

He tried it again with more charkra. The result was still the same with only a slightly deeper imprint. 

The boy huffed in annoyance. No matter how much he tried, the technique seemed to be out of his reach. 

With his control much better than before, significantly less power bled away. But his timing and focus was still nowhere close to good enough. If only he could release his charkra from a single tenketsu than multiple like tapping pressure points with his finger….

Naruto froze, and then blinked. A smirk slowly developed on his face. 

If what he was thinking worked like he wanted, then his next attempt will be significantly more powerful than the last. 

Naruto lifted his right hand in front of him once again and curled the fingers like a fist except leaving his index finger extended. He once more closed his eyes so he could concentrate charkra through his arms and into his hand. But this time he focused all of it into the tip of his index finger. When he decided he had collected enough charkra, he thrust the finger into the ground beside the small imprint he had created earlier. 

The results were just like he had anticipated. The ground trembled slightly and a small crater ten feet across formed around him with his finger at the center. Cracks emanated past the crater and extended for another several feet. 

Naruto smiled slightly at his achievement. The charkra this time was much more focused, and since it came from a single tenketsu, his timing was perfect. 

But it had it's own drawbacks as he had channelled charkra into one tenketsu, rather than multiple tenketsu, it takes more time to charge up the required amount of charkra than the original technique. And added to that, a finger thrust naturally had less power than a punch. 

Yet, with more practice, he would be able to generate large amounts of charkra quickly into his finger to further offset the drawbacks. 

He also figured that if he improved the power in his fingers, the power of his technique would also increase much proportionately. 

And the good thing about it was that he was essentially doing the prerequisite training for striking pressure points. 

* * *

After another month of training, Naruto had more than doubled his weights. His progress in developing a new taijutsu style was also going well. He found that using clones as training dummies was a great advantage. 

He had become fairly proficient with striking pressure points during combat after he spent some time sparring with kage bunshin as practice. It had become a habit now for him to participate in a mass free for all taijutsu sparring match with a big group of clones. As a result, his striking aim was much better, and he would be able to hit pressure points occasionally. 

His finger strength had also improved much although it was not without mishaps. He had jarred his fingers several times earlier on when he practiced without charkra enhancement. He had healed quickly enough and corrected his earlier mistakes. He found the trick was to keep his fingers slightly bent rather than perfectly straight like he first thought. 

He had also begun to incorporate locks and grappling into his style after he read as much as he could about the human anatomy and skeletal structure and joints. He still needed to work the kinks out of the style, which would take months more of work even with Kage bunshin, but despite that, his skill had improved significantly. 

Naruto then reviewed the profiles of all the strong ninja of Konoha, and came to the conclusion that the strongest ninja often had their own special attack ninjutsu or style of fighting. The Shodai had Mokuton jutsu, Nidaime specialised in water jutsu and the Yondaime had the Hiraishin no jutsu and Rasengan. 

This led him to believe that if he were to become an exceptional ninja that was better than the rest, he would also need to create his own special ultimate attack. He had a vague idea as to what he wanted to create, but he put it as a side project so it would not hamper his training. 

After reviewing the training he had undergone, he realised that he had focused primarily on ninjutsu and taijutsu. He quickly realised that genjutsu posed a great problem to him as he could neither cast nor fight against them. 

He spent some time reading on the basics of genjutsu and quickly realised the endless possibilities and potential of the discipline. He even had some ideas of his own that he wanted to try. But unlike ninjutsu, he could not put the knowledge he had gathered from scrolls to practice. 

As genjutsu had never been an area that he was good at, he needed someone to teach him rather than learning from a scroll. His first thought was to approach Kakashi sensei, but decided after some thinking, not to do so. 

The masked jounin was a lazy man. Not only did his sensei not train his team as intensely as he had liked, almost all of the training revolved around teamwork, ninja etiquette, and field combat simulations. While these are all lessons that are important, physical training are few and far in between. And jutsu training was practically nonexistent as Kakashi mostly helped them refined their existing abilities. 

Plus, the man was not the genjutsu type. Kakashi was unlikely to be able to teach him what he needed to know for him to create his own genjutsu. He was better off finding a genjutsu specialist to teach him what he wanted to know. 

The only genjutsu expert he was aware of was Yuuhi Kurenai. 

He had remembered her from when he was still in the academy. 

Unlike most other academy teachers, she had been nice to him. Too bad she had only taught subjects for kunoichi until she left the academy to become a jounin. Last he'd seen her was when she came to pick up her genin team from his class of graduates. 

Naruto wasn't sure where to find her nor did he know how to approach her. He barely knew her name as it was. So he decided to just keep an eye out for her while he continued with other aspects of his training. 

* * *

Author's Notes:

This chapter was all about his training. The next chapter will be focusing on Naruto/Kurenai interaction. As for those that ask, I'll be taking the romance fairly slowly, so don't expect them to get together anytime soon. They'll be getting to know each other first, build up some attraction etc. 

Anyways, the story might seem to move a bit quick, but I intended for it to be this way, since the story is about the effects of Naruto's change, and there won't be any major effect until perhaps the chunin exams. 

Also, Naruto might seem to be a bit strong in this fic. While it is intentional, I didn't want him to feel impossibly strong. The stuff he thought of is mostly ideas I have that I wanted to write. And he might seem a bit smart when he was analysing the Juuken. Though it's mainly because I wanted to show that he is putting the stuff he learnt from the first chapter to use.

Anyways, thanks for reviewing. I never thought I would get that many reviews just for the first chapter. 

To HolyKnight5: 

Both charkra and chakra works I think. I searched it on the net, both came up with the same thing. Although I'm not sure the official spelling for Naruto. And thanks for the analysis on Sakura. This gave me some ideas how to write Sakura. I've mostly been thinking about Naruto and Kurenai interaction at the moment. Though I won't go so far to have her become suicidal or start cutting or anything like that. 

To Zeeman: 

He will get strong quickly, but not 'impossibly' quickly. (at least it my opinion) Though he'll likely to be stronger than he should be, since I have some scenes in mind that I wanted to do later on that needed him to be strong. 

To zagen: 

I've done some fanart of how I wanted Naruto to look, and I think Naruto looks a lot better. You might think the colour scheme is ridiculous, but I fully coloured my drawings and it looked fine. Same thing with Kakashi's reaction. Naruto looks like Yondaime in my drawings. 

To rasengan86: 

To be honest, I'm not sure I can do a much better job at doing the Naruto/Kurenai pairing realistically. 

To crazyfoxdemon: 

Sorry, but I've already decided it will be Naruto/Kurenai. And 15 year age gap ain't that bad. Plus, I like the challenge of doing a fairly rare pairing that is difficult to write. They will go to the wave mission, though there will be a lot of changes. As for Zabuza's sword and Sasuke bashing, it's unlikely. 

To Kingkakashi: 

Writing a lemon is unlikely since I'm not too good at it. I already have an idea as to where I'm heading, but not sure how to do it since I have the bigger picture, but not the details. As for changes, that's why I'm having him change this early, so the differences will be more obvious. Some things will remain the same though. Most of the major events will still happen. A lot of the major changes are in the way the characters interact not the events. Though the way characters interact will change some events. 

To kerrde06: 

I'm aware of how young Naruto looks. He will grow taller, though it won't be Kyubi's influence. I've done some research, and the average height for 12-13 year olds in real life is around 5 foot 3. I assume Sasuke is about this height, and Naruto is a few inches shorter. Naruto will be around that height by the time chunin exams come. So growing about 3 inches in half a year is more believable that using Kyubi, although realistically it'll take about a year to grow that much. As for losing baby fat etc, I've already planned on it. Although I disagree with Kyubi changing him to keep them alive since I don't think Kyubi has that kind of influence due to the seal. The only times it will likely happens is when he is in a rage or actively choose to use kyubi's charkra. And even then, none of the changes are permanent. 

To KitsuneKami686: 

There were a lot of times where Naruto shows he's smart, but the way he acts made them think he's dumb. 

To dadude: 

Yeah, Naruto/Kurenai will be the pairing. I haven't exactly figured out what to do with Hinata, but there will be some drama with Kurenai and Hinata. 

To sparkygate: 

As you can see from chapter 2, Kurenai will be introduced before the chunin exams. And Anko won't be fighting Kurenai over Naruto. 

To Narutomaniac: 

Sorry, but I won't be changing Naruto's age. And I won't be changing Naruto with the Kyubi. As for relationship with Kurenai, I don't plan on that until after PTS, although he might not be going on that training trip depends on what I come up with. As for the wind affinity, he'll get to that eventually, but at least not until after chunin exam time. As for haku and one-handed seal… Not sure about haku, but the one handed seals gave me an idea. 

To Himuradono: 

Thanks. From what I'm seen in the anime during the invasion, most of the ninja from Konoha used Katon jutsu. I think that's because it's the most common type of jutsu in Konoha, so Naruto learning the jutsu is reasonable. Plus, the ones I Naruto learned in my fic are low-level fire jutsu. 

To swiftrabbit: 

I don't think you need to have the elemental affinity to use the jutsu, they're only easier to learn and use if you have the affinity. As for shunshin, I have an idea for it already but you probably won't see it until the chunin exam stage at least. 

To Mr. Lee: 

I know what you mean about the story feeling mechanical and report like. That's the main reason I think my writing skills aren't that good. Things just don't seem natural like I wanted. As for thinking in the intellectual sense, I agree too, since I'm better at thinking logically, and can't seem to write as well regarding emotions. 

To aboulhosncc: 

I'm sorry if that's how you feel, but this is fanfiction. The point of fanfiction is to write the characters the way you want to and change things the way you want. If you want to see a story that's has Naruto not OOC, then you should stick to reading the manga or watching the anime. As for the thing about the mask, that's the way I interpreted Naruto's character in canon, so it's all a matter of opinion. 

To TheDon1023: 

Not sure about making jutsu more devastating using pure spiritual or body energy. But definitely more efficient, since I think for example, using spiritual energy by using charkra for taijutsu is a waste since the body energy is more useful. This way, charkra exhaustion is less of a problem. 


	3. Chapter 3: Genjutsu

CHAPTER 3 – GENJUTSU 

* * *

Naruto breathed a weary sigh as he walked down the streets of Konoha. The day of d ranked missions had been exhausting. The sheer boringness of the missions seemed to wear him down quicker than usual. He was certainly relieved and glad he was finally dismissed for the day.

Something about his team bothered him though. Or more specifically, Sakura did. He had noticed that his pink haired teammate had been acting somewhat strange lately while in his presence. He had tried to observe the girl, but never managed to understand her recent behaviour. She would occasionally sneak glances at him, but when he would voice his concern, she denied that there was anything wrong. And she would always look away when he met her glances. He did not know what it meant and what caused it. 

He was certain it was not due to his growth in power. He had yet to show anyone on his team his true strength. 

It wasn't because he was trying to hide his strength from his team, but it was simply because he never needed to show any kind of skill in d ranked missions. 

But then, while it puzzled him, he didn't feel that it was especially important. At least not at the moment. 

Like he had for most days, he had bid his team goodbye and was about to head out for his daily training after he went home for some training equipment. 

He certainly wasn't expecting to find Kurenai coming out of Konoha's best dango shop with a female companion. He easily recognised the genjutsu specialist from the distinctive bandage like red and white clothing she wore. He did not recognise her companion though. He had never met to woman before. She was an attractive woman with purple hair tied up in a bunch with some of her hair sticking up at odd angles. Naruto judged her to be several years or so younger than the genjutsu specialist and wore a tan coloured coat over a fishnet undershirt. 

He took in a breath and quickly thought to himself whether to approach Kurenai or not. He decided that this was probably the best chance for him to approach Kurenai for training. 

He let the breath out and immediately called out to the woman before she got to far away. 

"Kurenai-sensei!" 

The red-eyed beauty paused in her walk and turned her head to the source of the call. Her eyes widened slightly when her eyes made contact with the boy whom was waving to get her attention. 

'My god…. He looks just like the Yondaime…'

Kurenai blushed faintly as she reminisced her younger days when she had a crush on the blonde Hokage. It was hard not to like the Yondaime. He was a great man, kind, strong and good-looking. He had many of the traits that she looked for in a man. Though her crush was short lived as it had ended when the man had died defeating the Kyubi. 

Simply looking at the boy brought back flashes of memories of Yondaime. She pushed those memories to the back of her mind, content in letting the past remain in the past. After all, a crush was just that. A crush. 

She turned and straightened herself and watched as the boy slowly approached them. She focused her deep red eyes onto the boy and took in a better look. She instantly recognised the blonde haired boy as the Kyubi container despite the change of clothing. Curiosity flashed within her mind as she wondered what business the boy had with her. 

She had seen him several times when she still taught at the academy. She had heard about the boy from her colleagues, but she never knew him personally. 

Naruto looked up into Kurenai's piercing red eyes as he approached. 'Beautiful'. He couldn't help but to think. It was perhaps one of the most beautiful sets of eyes he had ever seen. Not only because of the exotic shade of red of her eyes, which gave her an aura of mysteriousness and intrigue. 

But also because of the underlying warmth in her eyes that betray the cold, dispassionate image that she tried to portray with her indifferent expression. He could easily see the kind, caring nature of the woman underneath. And it made her all the more attractive. 

Naruto couldn't help but be mesmerised. 

"You're Naruto-kun right?"

He blinked, finally breaking eye contact. He quickly regained his bearings and hastily filtered through his mind her question, having almost missed it. 

Even as her question finally sank in, he could only nod dumbly at her, not knowing what to say. He could feel his face heating up and he tried desperately to hide his blush by looking at the ground. 

The shyness of the boy almost brought a smile to Kurenai's face, though she quickly hid it. He almost reminded her of her student Hinata. 

"So… how can I help you, Naruto-kun?" Kurenai asked, breaking the silence. 

Feeling the warmth in his cheeks starting to fade, he looked back up at her face. 

Unsure how to phrase his request, Naruto brought his hand up to the back of his head in habit and scratched a few times. 

Kurenai smiled slightly at the gesture, and the cute expression on the boy's face when he was trying to think. 

"Umm…. Kurenai sensei, you are a genjutsu specialist right?" Naruto finally questioned. 

Kurenai smiled proudly and nodded at the boy's question. It had been her dream to become Konoha's foremost genjutsu specialist. She had achieved her dream after many years of hard work, and she was extremely proud of her achievement. 

"Umm… Can you teach me genjutsu?" Naruto asked with an embarrassed grin on his face while scratching his head. 

Kurenai raised an eyebrow curiously to his request. "Isn't your sensei supposed to teach you? Kakashi should be your sensei if I'm correct".

"Yeah, but Kakashi sensei hasn't really been teaching us any jutsus. And all he's been teaching is teamwork and what to do in different situations. He spends more time teaching Sasuke anyways," Naruto argued.

Kurenai frowned slightly. She had always known that Kakashi was lazy, but from the sound of it, he really hasn't been training his team as much as he should've been doing. And having once been an academy instructor, his laziness and favouritism grated on her nerves. Even now with her team, she taught each of her students equally despite being much closer to Hinata than Kiba or Shino. 

But while she had no problems specifically with teaching Naruto, as she had never thought of him as the Kyubi, she didn't want to interfere with another jounin's team. 

"You're better at genjutsu, right? So won't you be able to teach me genjutsu better than Kakashi sensei?" Naruto quipped, trying to convince the woman by complimenting her. 

Kurenai couldn't deny the truth in that statement. She was definitely more knowledgeable in genjutsu than the copy ninja. Still, she did not wish to interfere with Kakashi's team no matter how bad a teacher he may be. 

Still seeing the look of hesitation on her face, Naruto decided to use one of his more devastating jutsu in his arsenal. It's power is devastating to women, and on par if not exceeding the power of the infamous Oiroke no jutsu. 

'Puppy eyes no jutsu!' "Please…" And with that he activated the quivering lips of the technique. 

Kurenai stared at the boy with wide eyes and sweat dropped slightly. Though she had to suppress her female instinct and the urge to hug the boy who looked so incredibly cute. 

'So cute…. Well, it's not like teaching him genjutsu is that bad right? Besides, its true I could teach him genjutsu better than Kakashi. And none of my team shows any interest in learning genjutsu…' She thought. 

"Alright" She finally answered. 

The look of delight on Naruto's face and the sincere smile that formed on his face warmed her heart. Kurenai couldn't help but find his smile contagious and smiled in return. 

"My team doesn't have training or missions on Thursdays and Saturdays after 4pm. We can train at training ground 8 at these times". 

Naruto quickly searched his memory and recalled that these times did not clash with his team schedule. So he nodded. 

Then, on impulse, he lifted her hand from her side and planted a soft kiss on the back of her hand. He gave the raven-haired woman another smile of gratitude and bid her farewell before walking away to his training. 

As he walked, he wondered what had compelled him to do what he just did. 

'Why did I do that? I don't want her to take it the wrong way.' he mused. 

Kurenai stood rooted to the spot she had been standing, blushing wildly. While she found it slightly embarrassing, it felt refreshing to be treated like a princess, rather than be looked at like a sex object. 

"Aww… Kawaii… What would everyone say if they knew you got so flustered by a 12 year old?" Her companion who had stood silently to the side throughout the entire exchange teased. 

Kurenai groaned. "Anko!!" 

* * *

Thursday morning came around, and team 7 as usual found themselves waiting for their teacher who was once again, late. 

Despite the annoyance that was Kakashi, Sakura found herself immensely curious to the reason for the excited and eager look on Naruto's face as the boy stared off into space while pacing back and forth impatiently along the bridge. 

Her eyes followed the boy as she tried to comprehend what made him so excited and impatient. 

The boy had become somewhat a mystery to her. With the changes he was going through, it was obvious to her that there was much more to Naruto than she had previously thought. And now that he no longer annoyed her, the more she spent with him, the more she realised that he had not been any where near as bad as she had previously made him out to be. 

She couldn't deny that Naruto was really a decent guy, now that he took things much more seriously. Not that she wanted him. To her, Sasuke was still better in everyway. 

Meanwhile, Naruto continued his endless pacing as he waited for Kakashi to arrive. He was eager to get the missions done so he could train with Kurenai. 

He wasn't sure what made him feel so excited, all he knew was that he had never been so excited about genjutsu training before. Even his heart seemed to be beating faster as if willing the time to go quicker along with his heartbeat. 

"What are you so happy about Naruto?" Sakura asked finally unable to hold her curiosity. 

"Nothing!" Naruto chimed. 

Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly at him in suspicion, but did not press the issue. 

Feeling the girl's eyes still on him, Naruto turned to look at her and tilted his head slightly in question. "Yes?"

Sakura blushed slightly at the boy's stare, finding the way he tilted his head to be incredibly cute. 

And oddly enough to her, it had not been the first time she thought Naruto was cute. With the way he had been growing physically, she found him to be more and more attractive everyday. 

The blue-eyed genin had grown much during the last two months. Naruto had always been the shortest in their team, shorter than her by an inch or so. But now, he was almost as tall as she was. His hair had also grown in length, as he had not bothered to cut it. Sakura honestly thought that it suited him better and even made him look more mature.

While she would never admit that to anyone, she did think that Naruto had changed from looking like a goofy loudmouth idiot to a fairly handsome boy. If the way he had been growing in the last two months were any indication, she wouldn't be surprised if he had girls all over him in a few years. And that thought irritated her for some reason. 

Naruto raised an eyebrow at Sakura's reaction and scratched his head curiously. 

'There's that look again… But what does it mean? Come to think of it, she's not the only one that looks at me like that. I caught Ayame-oneechan looking at me like that too… It's almost like how the fangirls look at Sasuke… Nah…'

Naruto shook his head with some amusement. Sakura would never find him attractive right? Especially since she made that quite clear. Not to mention cute girls like Ayame-chan… 

Naruto blinked. Cute? Since when did he start thinking of Ayame-oneechan as cute? Not that it wasn't true. It was the opposite in fact. Ayame was a very cute girl. Beautiful even, although not quite as stunning as Kurenai sensei. The jounin just had that charm and aura of mystique that captivates people. Not to mention that perfect face that you couldn't help but admire like a work of art. And that flawless creamy white skin, exotic wine red eyes that he could lose himself staring into… And that pair of velvety red lips that made him just want to kiss… 

"Gah!" 

Naruto instantly found himself blushing a deep shade of red and banged his head against a wooden post on the bridge to get the perverted images out of his head. He leaned his forehead against the post hiding his embarrassment. 

His teammates stared at him liked he had just gone crazy making him blush even more. 

"What?" He turned to his teammates still slightly flushed. 

"Baka" Sasuke scoffed and looked away. 

Sakura gave him a curios look but eventually just shrugged and looked away. 

It was at this time that Kakashi arrived and distracted him from making more thoughts about the opposite sex.

"Yo!" Kakashi greeted holding up a hand. "Lets go get ourselves a mission".

* * *

Kurenai leaned her back against a tree as she waited for Naruto to arrive. She shifted her body slightly as the bark of the tree dug into her back. She settled into a fairly comfortable position and let her mind wonder. 

She contemplated to herself why she had agreed to teach the boy. Surely, it could not be because of that incredibly cute puppy eyed look, no matter how adorable he looked at that moment. Perhaps it was because he reminded her of the Yondaime. Or perhaps she was simply curious about the Kyubi container. She realised that she didn't really have an answer to the question. 

And she idly wondered what it would be like to teach Naruto. Although she had never personally taught the boy before, according to the rumour mill, he was a teacher's nightmare, what with his pranks and his terrible attitude towards his teachers. But then, he didn't seem as bad as those rumours said when he had approached her the other day. 

She really wasn't expecting the boy to have any talent in genjutsu considering his grades in the academy. After all, the barely graduated genin had been known as the dead last that had absolutely no talent in any of the ninja arts. Still, she fully expected him to at least put his best effort into the training to learn everything she would teach him. 

Kurenai shifted from her thoughts as she felt a presence enter the training grounds. 

"Hi Kurenai sensei" Naruto called out in a friendly tone, blushing faintly as he recalled his thoughts earlier, in the morning. 

Kurenai just nodded at his greeting. 

"So what do you need help with?" Kurenai asked, calmly, getting straight to business.

Naruto thought for a few seconds and scratched his head in an embarrassed manner. 

"Um…everything really… But I definitely have to at least learn how to detect and dispel genjutsu. But I would like to learn some actual jutsu too".

The red-eyed woman nodded. "How about I teach you how to detect and dispel genjutsu, then let you practice by cancelling some lower level genjutsu that I'll cast on you. This way, you can get first hand experience at dispelling and recognising genjutsu". 

Naruto nodded enthusiastically and Kurenai smiled slightly at his enthusiasm. It was always nice to see a fellow ninja interested in her chosen art. 

* * *

"The first step to detecting genjutsu is based on observation. Detecting genjutsu is the embodiment of the concept of looking underneath the underneath. It requires you to be able to notice anything out of the ordinary. Because of this, the higher level of detail in the genjutsu, the harder it is to detect. This is why normally people with higher intelligence have more aptitude in genjutsu. But if you have enough experience, you can compensate for a lack of natural talent. So before we do anything else, we'll work on your observation skills," Kurenai lectured.

Naruto nodded for Kurenai to continue. 

"I want you to observe and analyse what you can see about me. Tell me what you can observe of my personality and even fighting style and name my weaknesses and strengths. I'll do a short demonstration first so you'll know what to do". 

"Hai".

"Your stance is solid even when you are standing around casually. So you are likely a taijutsu-oriented fighter and prefers straight out combat. The way you constantly shift your weight between each leg tells me that you can react quickly to most situations. You might be concealing weapons underneath your sleeves. So avoid making contact with your arms unless with a weapon. But your coat is also quite loose and might be an advantage to grab onto it in a fight against you", Kurenai listed.

Naruto simply stared at the red-eyed jounin in awe. He never imagined it was possible to know so much about a person's fighting style just from observing how a person looks and the way they stand. 

"Now your turn".

Naruto focused his eyes on the woman. He looked from her face down to her feet, then back up to her face again. 

"You are a very beautiful woman… You could definitely use your looks to distract your enemies…" Naruto spoke in an embarrassed tone. 

Kurenai waved her hand signalling for him to continue, while hiding a blush of her own. 

"Um… You probably prefer genjutsu and ninjutsu over taijutsu, since your body still has a very feminine shape and doesn't have large or very defined muscles. I think your taijutsu is also based on illusions. Most likely using your red sleeve to attract attention. Maybe even use the red colour to disorient opponent by moving your arms really fast. And your clothes don't look like it'll give that much protection for combat. So you are likely to prefer stealth. I suppose your weakness is physical strength, so overpowering you in close combat is the best way to fight you". 

Kurenai was surprised. Considering how unobservant Naruto look and seemed at times, his analysis of her abilities was quite accurate. 

"Ok, Naruto. Your observations are pretty good. But you don't seem to be very confident with your observation skills. So I want you to practice this skill everywhere you go for the next few weeks and analyse in your mind everyone you meet during that time. Try to look for skills, strengths, weaknesses and threat level. And try to analyse not only people, but also your surroundings and how to take advantage of your surroundings for a fight".

"Hai" Naruto nodded in understanding. 

"Now, we'll move on to actually detecting and dispelling genjutsu using your observation skills. Genjutsu can affect all of your five senses. Your touch, smell, hearing, sight, and even taste…."

* * *

Kurenai was surprised. Considering Naruto's reputation as a hopeless ninja, the boy had been doing surprisingly well. It took the boy many tries to finally learn how to perform the dispel technique properly. But once he had gotten it down, he had been able to dispel all but one genjutsu she cast on him. 

Kurenai had to admit that who ever said the boy had no talent couldn't be any further from the truth. Sure, there were those that learned at a faster rate than Naruto, but for the boy to become as proficient at recognising and dispelling genjutsu as he was right now in only one day was an impressive feat. 

"I'm surprised you did so well Naruto-kun. I didn't expect you to be able to cancel the last one. Now, before we finish for the day, I'll show you a low-level genjutsu and let you practice it on your own. This is a jutsu called Magen: Narakumi no jutsu…"

Kurenai performed the required seals and cast the jutsu at Naruto.

Naruto felt a gust of wind blow against him, before a cluster of leaves carried by the wind was blown around him, slightly disorienting his vision. A moment later, Naruto found that the leaves to have disappeared. 

Naruto looked around the training grounds and saw the figure of Kurenai stumbling out from behind some trees. Numerous kunai and shuriken pierced her body. She reached out to him with agony showing on her face, before collapsing to the ground. 

Naruto knew it was merely the product of an illusion, but the imagery still brought shivers down his spine. He quickly brought his hand into a seal. 

"Kai".

The bleeding figure shimmered and faded away to reveal a perfectly fine Kurenai standing several feet away. Kurenai nodded in approval. 

"Now pay attention, here are the hand signs for the jutsu." Kurenai formed the seals with her hands slowly in order for Naruto to follow. 

Naruto formed the same seals with his own hands several times and when he finally got it down, he nodded to Kurenai. 

Kurenai looked up at the sky to see it almost dark.

"Ok Naruto-kun that's it for today. It's getting dark and I still have to get home and find something to eat".

"Kurenai sensei. Why don't you come to grab a bite to eat with me? Anywhere you like, my treat!" Naruto asked. "As thanks for training me!" he added quickly. It was just an innocent expression of gratitude after all. He didn't want her to think he was trying to ask her out or anything. Although for some reason, he couldn't help but blush madly.

Kurenai pondered it for a moment. She knew she would've ended up eating out anyways. She didn't feel up to cooking for the night and getting a free meal sounded like a tempting offer. 

Not to mention that it didn't hurt to get to know her new student better. She was curious in the least. Everything she had heard about him from rumours had not been entirely accurate if at all. Despite being dubbed talent less, he had learnt to dispel genjutsu quickly. It was certainly a surprise, as she heard that he was supposedly hopeless in anything regarding genjutsu. 

And she was more than a little intrigued with his resemblance to the Yondaime. Certainly, the boy was like a mystery. A mystery that she would like to solve. Not to mention there was the added bonus that she could help Hinata win his heart if she knew the boy better. 

So, she nodded a yes. 

* * *

"I've had a nice night. Thank you for having dinner with me, Kurenai sensei" Naruto smiled softly at the red-eyed beauty. 

Kurenai smiled in response and agreed that she also had a great night. 

Naruto once again lifted her hand and gently placed a chaste kiss on her hand, then bid her farewell and left. 

Kurenai blushed faintly, half leaning against her opened apartment door. She watched him walk away, his cape billowing in the winds, making him seem almost regal. 

It seemed kind of strange, but the more she watched him, the more she saw the resemblance between Naruto and her former crush. 

Even the foxy grin the boy sported most of the time seemed to remind her of the Yondaime. 

She had immensely enjoyed the night. Even though neither of them had considered the night a date or anything even remotely related to a romantic sense, she couldn't help but wished that of the few dates she had ever been on, had been even half as nice as this night. 

She had never felt so relaxed with a person of the opposite sex. Not with her peers, her students, not even with her friend Sarutobi Asuma, who she had considered to be the closest match to what she considered decent boyfriend material. Although she did hate his smoking. 

She supposed that Naruto's age and his lack of ulterior motives helped. Most men her age only wanted her for her body. It was the reason why she always turned down any men that approached her. Although it was a little strange that she felt more relaxed around Naruto than even with Kiba and Shino. 

But then, the boy's cheery and somewhat playful persona reminded her almost of her friend Anko. She supposed that familiarity relaxed her. Not to mention the boy was naturally easygoing and always informal, which helped lower her guard. 

Kurenai entered her apartment and gently shut the door behind her. She plopped herself onto her couch and thought back to earlier in the night. 

After they had left the training ground, they had chosen a modest restaurant that was inexpensive, yet served decent food. They had conversed while they waited for their meal, and their conversations continued through the night. 

She had half expected the blonde to brag about himself and even his dream to become Hokage. She had seen it before when she still worked at the academy. But it was not so, and she found their talk much more interesting and meaningful. 

It began with mostly insignificant chatter about themselves. But that quickly turned into an animated discussion about genjutsu. 

It was certainly a shock for her to find the boy as knowledgeable as he was in the theories of genjutsu. He had certainly done his reading. Although the boy did admit he could not apply the knowledge to practice. Still, the ideas and theories he had simply fascinated her. 

Increasing the strength and efficiency of genjutsu by using a higher concentration of spiritual energy while a possibility, was something she had never thought of. She was excited of the possibilities of this theory. And it reignited her passion for the art of genjutsu. 

It was then that she realised that she had not once been as excited by genjutsu since she had been acknowledged as the best genjutsu specialist in Konoha, as she was now. 

She decided then and there, that she would help Naruto learn genjutsu as best as she could. As thanks for renewing her interest in her art. She thought that perhaps they could even explore the possibilities of his theories together once he had reached a reasonable level in the art of genjutsu. 

Their discussion continued even long after they had finished eating, and when they finally decided to leave, they realised they had been talking for much longer than they had expected.

Afterwards, Naruto paid the bill and walked her home like a perfect gentleman. 

Overall, it was a very enjoyable night. 

She could understand why Hinata liked the young man. He was definitely more than he seemed at first glance. He was an interesting person, and very good company. In fact, she felt rather jealous of Hinata. Even if her student had yet to win his heart, she had discovered this hidden gem where nobody even bothered to look and already had her heart set on winning his love. 

Kurenai had yet to even find someone that she would even consider dating. 

Hinata would be a very lucky girl if she could gain Naruto's love. The boy had even made her feel special and appreciated through the night without really even trying to. 

She couldn't really explain it. It was simple things he did that came together. The way he pulled her chair out for her, the way he payed rapt attention to her even when she talked about insignificant things, walking her home and especially the way he looked at her in awe when they talked about genjutsu. It was just things that he did without any motives other than to be nice. Things he did sometimes without thinking. 

It was why she felt relaxed around him. Naruto was unlike most men that tried their hardest to impress her. She could feel that Naruto was simply being his natural friendly self. 

She had never before imagined that Naruto would be such nice company. She had to re-establish her opinions of the boy, considering he was different to what she thought she knew of him. He was unlike all the rumours that described him. 

She found herself enjoying the night so much that she could hardly wait for their next training session together. 

Kurenai sighed wistfully. If only he was her age. And he was quite cute too…. 

* * *

Two days later, Naruto entered training ground 8 once again. When he realised Kurenai was nowhere to be found he paused his step in suspicion. He looked around, his brows creased in concentration. Then he relaxed and smiled. 

The blonde raised his hands in front of him and formed a seal with his hands. 

"Kai!" 

Clapping resounded from behind him and he whirled around to see Kurenai looking proudly at him. 

"Good job. You have really improved your genjutsu detection skills even after just one training session"

Naruto blushed slightly from the praise and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. 

Feeling that he should show his new sensei his progress in the art of genjutsu, he cast the jutsu he had learned two days ago. 

In an instant, Kurenai realised that she was caught in the Narakumi no jutsu. The leaves that swirled around her were a dead give away. She quickly dispelled the jutsu before looking at Naruto surprised. 

It wasn't the fact that he was able to perform the jutsu that truly surprised her. But it was rather the fact that she did not notice the boy making any hand seals at all. He was either able to perform hand seals faster than she could see, or he was able to create the jutsu without hand seals. 

It was practically impossible for someone to create hand seals without her even noticing their arms move when she was looking right at them, especially for someone at Naruto's level. But while the second option was more likely, it should still have taken him weeks if not months of practice to achieve that level, even if the jutsu was merely a d-rank. 

"How did you get so good in such a short time? You would've only gotten a days worth of practice at most." Kurenai inquire with surprise in her voice.

Naruto smirked and responded with two words.

"Kage bunshin…"

"Mm?" Kurenai was perplexed. How would kage bunshin help?

"The memories of a clone will be transferred to me when it dispels. If I train with a large amount of clones all working on a single jutsu, I gain all the experience when they dispel. I can cut down the time I needed to master a jutsu since I can create over a hundred at a time".

Kurenai nodded in understanding and was impressed. Not only did the boy have a charkra reserve large enough to make a hundred solid clones, but he also had a good understanding of the capability of the kage bunshin no jutsu. 

"Well, now that you are at a decent level in dispelling genjutsu and learned the Narakumi no jutsu, we'll move on to harder stuff…."

* * *

Kurenai snuck a short glance at the boy walking beside her. Her opinion of the boy was getting better and better, the more she got to know him. It was rare to find someone as hardworking as he was. Considering how intense she trained her own team, she could even argue that Naruto trained as hard, if not even more intense than her team. Although she could also argue that it was partially due to his massive charkra potential and exceptional stamina. 

The sheer amount of charkra he had used to practice repetitively, a genjutsu she had taught him would've worn her out after just half an hour at most. And the boy did it endlessly without even a single break for three hours straight. Even when he was starting to tire, he did not stop. She had even had at one point started to worry that the boy would collapse from charkra exhaustion. 

She had ended the session soon after that just to be safe. 

"Hey Kurenai, isn't he a little young for you?" a voice teased. 

Kurenai stopped walking abruptly and turned to the sound of the voice, to see her friend Anko looking amusedly at her. 

"We were just heading back from training, what are you doing here?" Kurenai explained.

Anko raised her eyebrows. 

"I don't remember him being on your team". Anko then gave the genjutsu specialist a sly grin. "Are you two really training? Or were you two doing something else?" 

Kurenai blushed slightly at what the purple haired woman was implying, but tried to brush off her teasing by changing the subject.

"So what are you doing here Anko?" the blush still adorning her face. 

Anko looked at the blushing Kurenai and then to the boy who was trying to hide his blush by looking away and making himself seem less noticeable. The tokubetsu jounin smirked. 'So easy to tease'.

"Just came to see if you wanna go grab some dango" She answered. 

Anko looked back to Naruto who was now looking seemingly out of place, before Kurenai could reply. 

"So what's your name kid? I'm Mitarashi Anko".

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto".

"So, Kurenai-chan, how about some dango? What about you kid? You wanna come too?"

Naruto shrugged "Sure, but I don't want to impose…"

"Don't worry kid, I'm sure Kurenai won't mind!" Anko turned to Kurenai and winked "Right?"

Kurenai blush returned to her face once again. She didn't even know why she was blushing so much. 

Although she agreed that she didn't mind the young man's company. Not to mention she thought it would be amusing to see Anko and Naruto interact seeing they are quite similar in personality. 

* * *

The three entered the dango shop and got seated on an unoccupied table. 

Anko was about to catch the attention of the waiter so they could order when a less than quiet sneer was aimed at them. 

"What a way to ruin the night. The damn snake bitch and the demon brat".

Naruto, Kurenai and Anko frowned before looking in the direction of the voice. The voice belonged to an inebriated man who was glaring at them along with two other men that was given Anko and Naruto the same look. 

"Why couldn't they just die…" one of the other men murmured, to the agreement of his companions. 

Kurenai frowned and send a glare with some killing intent at the men, shutting them up, before looking at Anko and Naruto worriedly. 

Anko seemed to have shrugged off the heated comment, and assumed a cheerful face. The purple haired tokubetsu jounin loudly called out an order of a massive batch of dango for the three of them, to the waiter. 

Anko hated this. She had never done anything to deserve the villager's scorn. She had once been a respected kunoichi of the village, becoming hated and scorned, all because of one man. Orochimaru. Oh how she loathed that name. Not only had he given her the cursed seal of heaven, then cast her away when he decided there was no more use for her, merely having once been his apprentice continues to haunt her both through the curse seal and the contempt of the village passed on from teacher to apprentice. 

But there was nothing she could really do. And she really hated this helplessness. He was an S ranked missing nin, and as much as she hated to say it, also her former sensei. He had taught her practically everything she knew. As much as she wanted revenge against him, she knew she was unlikely to ever get it. She could never be able to defeat the man with the very same techniques he taught her. 

All she could do was bear it all. But damned if she would let these bastards see how much it affects her. 

While Anko didn't seem to be affected by the men's insults, Naruto could easily see through her mask. 

He placed a hand on Anko's shoulder catching the woman's attention. He looked into the woman's brown eyes and gave her a sad smile. For a brief moment, he let his own mask drop. The woman gasped softly seeing his eyes full of pain and sadness. Eyes so similar to her own. 

In an instant, the sadness was gone, replaced by the same mask he always donned. Naruto flashed her a cheerful smile. 

He didn't know why those men hated her. But he could understand her pain. To be hated, to have their very existence scorned. He wanted her to know that he sympathised with her, let her know that he would be there for her. Having experienced sadness his entire life, he could not bear to see anyone else sad. Even if he had only known the woman for a few moments, she had been kind enough to invite him for dango and he wanted to show her kindness in return. To show her that she wasn't alone. 

Anko returned a smile of her own, letting the boy know that she was grateful and that she understood his pain just the same. They exchanged another smile. No words were said. They didn't need to. Even if they barely know each other, their pain connects them, almost like family. 

They each gave Kurenai a reassuring smile and the three settled into a comfortable silence as they waited for their order. 

Kurenai couldn't help but smile at her companions. She had seen the sadness on Naruto's face when he had dropped his mask. She couldn't help but admire his strength of will. To be hated and scorned by almost the entire village, yet he had overcome this hardship and remains innocent and pure of heart. He was so kind to Anko, even despite having only known her for less than an hour. 

She was honestly happy for the both of them. To finally find someone that could understand their pain. Even if she had been friends with Anko for a long time, she knew that there was a part of her behind the emotional wall Anko had built up that she would never be able to reach, having never experienced the same pain the purple haired jounin had experience. 

She hoped that Naruto could help Anko finally get on the road to healing. Not only for Anko, but for both of their sakes. 

* * *

For an entire month, Naruto would train with Kurenai in genjutsu at least twice a week. They would always end up going to dinner together, as for some reason they could never be bothered to cook for themselves after their training sessions together. 

Even when not training, they could often be found together, mostly along with Anko. Anko had gotten somewhat fond of the blonde after that first night, and she liked to invite the boy when she and Kurenai went out for lunch, dinner or just to hang out. 

This night was no different. 

"So where are we going to go eat tonight?" Naruto asked his female companions. 

"Dango!" Anko cheered. 

Both Kurenai and Naruto groaned in complaint in unison.

"No way! We've had dango the last three times we went out for food! We should get some ramen", Naruto protested. 

Anko growled slightly. "Who cares if we had it three times in a row. Ramen sucks, dango is the way to go!" 

"What? Ramen is way better than dango!" Naruto gave her an offended look. 

Anko stuck her face close to the boy and narrowed her eyes at the boy trying to intimidate him. "No way is ramen better then dango!"

Unfortunately for her, Naruto would never back down when it came to ramen. 

"Ramen is better!"

"Dango!"

"Ramen!"

"Dango!"

Kurenai stared at the scene in amusement and couldn't help be let out a small laugh. It was funny sometimes seeing the two fighting like siblings.

Hearing the laugh, the two stopped their argument and looked at Kurenai. 

"Fine! We'll let Kurenai-chan decide what we'll have tonight", Anko suggested. Naruto nodded, and the two gave her an intense, expectant look. 

Kurenai couldn't help but sweat drop at the fierce competitiveness of the two when it came to their respective favourite food. 

"I suppose we can go to that ramen place you like so much, Naruto. It's only fair since we've had dango for the last three times". 

Anko growled slightly at the triumphant grin on Naruto's face and the victory sign he flashed her, but settled on a pout for being denied her precious dango. She decided to get some payback and wipe that smirk off his face. 

"Taking your little boyfriend's side now are we Kurenai-chan!" 

Kurenai and Naruto instantly blushed beet red and the boy choked slightly on his breath. 

Anko returned the triumphant grin, smirking even wider seeing the glare Naruto sent her way. 

Kurenai meanwhile was trying to make herself seem as small as possible to hide her embarrassment. 

She had learned much about Naruto throughout the month. He was hardworking, kind and cares deeply for his friends. She even found him good looking albeit a bit too young. It was no surprise that she had thought of Naruto in a romantic sense more than once, despite how unlikely it was. 

She couldn't really blame herself. After all, he had all the qualities she looked for in a potential boyfriend. Even that innocent, childlike playfulness he had did not deter that thought. 

Still, Kurenai felt a little guilty. She felt like she was betraying Hinata. Not only was she closer to Naruto than Hinata had ever been, and even if their relationship was strictly between friends, she couldn't help but wonder what it would be like if he was her age. 

She knew it was not going to happen considering how much younger than her he was, but it didn't make her feel less ashamed. Especially since helping Hinata win his heart was one of the reasons she wanted to get to know the young man better. And rather than making progress in that respect, here she was fantasising about him being all grown up. 

When the three arrived at the Ichiraku ramen stand, they sat down with Kurenai and Anko on each side of Naruto. 

"Hi Ossan, Ayame-chan." Naruto called to the father and daughter that worked at the stand. 

"Hi Naruto-kun" Ayame smiled sweetly at him. 

Unlike most other villagers, the ramen girl had always liked Naruto. To her, he was always a nice boy, determined and caring. She knew he would be great boyfriend or husband material when he matured. And she knew that he was starting to mature recently. Not to mention she was starting to find him very handsome with the way he was growing, especially now that he had abandoned his old jumpsuit. 

Meanwhile, Kurenai had caught the looks Ayame was giving Naruto. Kurenai frowned and found herself unconsciously clenching her hands into tight fists. Although unaware of what she was doing, the raven-haired beauty instinctively shifted in her seat so her body leaned towards Naruto, almost as if she was possessive of him. 

Ayame caught the gesture and frowned in response, before settling with a small glare at Kurenai. Tension began to rise. 

Naruto on the other hand remained oblivious to the exchange between Kurenai and Ayame. But their actions were not lost to Anko, who couldn't help but smirk at the fun she could have with teasing Kurenai later. 

"So, what would you and your friends like?" Teuchi asked his number one customer with a smile. 

"A miso ramen for me please!" Naruto called cheerfully.

"Can I have a seafood ramen please", Kurenai answered in a polite tone to Teuchi, before sending a glare of her own at Ayame. 

"A pork ramen for me!" Anko cheered, eager to get some food in her stomach, although nowhere near as enthusiastic as Naruto. 

For Naruto, the wait for ramen seemed to be excruciatingly long, but in reality it had only been a few minutes. After the food was served, they ate their food, while the three engaged in a light conversation. 

Kurenai had seemed to calm down after Ayame had returned to her work. 

"So Naruto, I didn't know you liked older women? I thought you liked Sakura?" A voice from behind them teased. 

The three turned and found the copy nin Kakashi looking at them in amusement. 

Naruto blushed bright red and crossed his arms and looked at Kakashi indignantly "I got over Sakura a while ago. And so what if I do like older women! You jealous or something?"

Kurenai immediately blushed a deep red. 'He likes older women? Does it mean he might like me that way?'

If it was possible, her face turned even redder at that thought. But Kurenai stopped her immediate train of thought. She should not think about things like that. He was way too young for her, right? And Hinata likes him, right? But he liked older women… 

Kurenai quickly caught herself again and stopped those thoughts drifting back into her mind once again. She didn't even know why these thoughts keep making their way into her mind. Sure, Naruto was a very nice boy, but she was sure she didn't like him that way. Not to mention he was too young. Right? Plus, she was supposed to help Hinata win his heart. 

Ayame meanwhile, was inwardly cheering. 

'Yes! I thought he might not like me because I'm a few years older than him. I have a chance… All I have to do is lure him with ramen… There's no way he can resist!' Ayame thought with a wicked grin. 

Anko blushed slightly, but otherwise just smirked. She snuck a glance at Kurenai who seemed to be in some kind of inner conflict, then to the girl from the ramen store, before looking at Naruto. Her smirk grew larger. 'Oh yeah! So much teasing material!'

"Oh? You really do like older women? I was just teasing. And what's this? Kurenai and Anko? At the same time?" Kakashi continued his teasing. 

Naruto's face turned bright red at his sensei's accusations and was about to reply. Anko stepped in and grabbed the jounin by the front of his shirt. 

"Are you implying something?" Anko gave the copy nin a sickly sweet smile that somehow, couldn't even hide the dangerous undertone.

Kakashi sweated slightly under the purple haired jounin's stare.

"Nothing, nothing!" Kakashi said quickly, waving his arms trying to placate the bloodthirsty kunoichi. 

Anko narrowed her eyes slightly at him, before finally releasing him. 

"Well then, have fun you three…." The copy nin called out in a rush before leaving via shunshin no jutsu. 

Naruto groaned. "Oh man… I bet I'm gonna be on the end of his jokes for a looooong time". 

* * *

"Sooooooo? How was your date last night Naruto?" Kakashi teased. 

Sakura and Sasuke looked at Naruto suddenly, stunned. Naruto had a date? Since when did he have a girlfriend?

Sakura felt a small pang in her chest when she looked at the blonde. Naruto has a girlfriend now? Was that the reason he no longer payed her much attention like he used to? Was it because he found someone better than her? 

She realised now, how much Naruto really affected her. She realised now that it was because of Naruto, not Sasuke that she had gotten over her low self-confidence when she was younger. It was because of how determined he was in gaining her affection that let her know that at least someone found her beautiful, desirable even. But now that he no longer did that, She found herself without that reassurance. And she couldn't help but feel self-doubt slowly creeping back in her mind. 

Even lately, without that assurance, her efforts to woo Sasuke hadn't been as determined as it had used to be. She couldn't help but question her own self worth. Was she not beautiful enough? Was it because of her large forehead? Did Naruto feel that she was no longer worthy of him now that he was actually good looking? Did Naruto finally realise there were better and more beautiful girls than her? Was that why he abandoned her? 

Sakura clenched her fist tightly. She couldn't understand why Naruto having a girlfriend bothered her so much. So what if he found himself a girlfriend? As long she got Sasuke, then it shouldn't matter to her, right? Right? But why did it hurt so bad? Why did she want Naruto's attention all to herself when she wanted Sasuke, not Naruto? 

"It wasn't a date dammit!" Naruto growled. 

"But how do you explain the blush on their faces?" Kakashi continued in a teasing tone.

'Their? As in more than one?' Sakura felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. She hated that feeling. She had to resist the urge to punch something or someone. And in this case, that would be Naruto. 

Sasuke just stood there to the side looking at Kakashi and Naruto in amusement. It was obvious to him that Kakashi was just messing around with Naruto's head. Though he was curious as to whom Naruto had went out with that gave him that blush he sported now. 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto growled out in annoyance. 

"Oh nothing!" Kakashi said innocently. 

"Grr….Lets just go get our mission!" 

* * *

**AN:**

This chapter was damn hard to do. I rewrote the chapter twice since the Kurenai and Naruto attraction was going a bit too fast before. I still feel that it is moving too fast since I skipped a month in between, but I can't be bothered changing things too much. The genjutsu training was kinda interesting to write. Took me awhile to think of the details of the training. Also, I know that Kurenai shouldn't know about Hinata's crush on Naruto at least at this point, but I changed that. Also, Ayame most likely won't have a big role in this fic, although she will appear at least a few more times. 

To CynicKitsune: 

You can't compare Gaara to Naruto. Naruto has a better seal. So it's likely Kyubi won't have as much effect on Naruto. I'm keeping some things as close to canon as possible. I already have ideas for jutsu, so thanks. The finger thing is basically a weaker version of a Tsunade's super powered punch. As for being a brawler, that's true except that he's trying to change that, that's why he was trying to learn pressure points and stuff. 

To HolyKnight5: 

Yeah I agree. The wave mission is what will cause most of Sakura's insecurities to resurface. I'm not quite sure how to write Sasuke's relationship with Naruto though. And I'm not too sure about Haku. He doesn't fit that well into what I've already planned. 

To edus: 

I won't be ruining Hinata and Kurenai's relationship in this fic, though things might be a bit tense between the two of them for a while until Naruto confronts Hinata. It won't come up for at least a couple of chapters at least. 

To KitsuneKami686: 

I've got a few ideas but I haven't decided yet. So I can't really tell you what his attack will be like. 

To T.O.B: 

Naruto will probably train under Jiraiya or Asuma to learn wind jutsu after the chunin exam finals. I haven't thought about it much since it doesn't really add much to the plot. And I don't want Naruto to be over powered. As for how powerful Naruto will be after chunin exams… you'll have to read to find out when I finish writing. 

To SpEcIaLk18: 

I will be changing the wave arc a little, but not too much. As for Orochimaru appearing during the month between the prelims and finals, I don't think I can come up with a decent back story for the changes. 

To scione: 

Ha ha, well a story would be boring without some form of drama. It'll be like a report and writing what Naruto do each day. That won't be a very good fic. All stories need some form of conflict to work. 

To cjcold2: 

I'll be keeping his heritage close to canon. Also, he did have a mask he hid behind, though it became part of his overall personality. That's why Naruto while different, will still have some of the core traits of canon Naruto. I wrote Naruto in a way so that all of his new skills have weaknesses so he's not overpowered. He won't be matching Kakashi soon, but he'll be able to challenge any of the genin except maybe Gaara or Lee when using the gates. I don't think any more detail on Kurenai's days in the academy will add to the plot, so I won't add it. As for Naruto's weapon throwing skills, I already have a new jutsu for him, which will make an appearance in the wave arc. 

To Daniel Lynx: 

Not sure who you're referring to since I haven't played that version of street fighter. Yeah, the stuff he learns is based on some martial arts knowledge I have. And it makes sense since learning the anatomy in depth should let a ninja use grappling better than the average person since grappling and locks uses pressure points to numb and weaken the limbs so you can twist it into an odd way that is difficult to break out of. I don't think I'll be putting Haku in the fic since he doesn't go well with the plot I planned. 

To Dookie Overlord: 

I already have some ideas, but feel free to post them if you wish to. But I suggest saving it for if you're ever gonna write your own fic. 

To Callibretto: 

I know how much weight is too much since I've used ankle weights before. I agree with it being like a report. But like I said, I'm not that good at writing fics. I'm more used to writing as you said 'reports' for school. There'll be more dialogue later on since I'm trying to speed things up so I could get to the wave arc quicker. 

To The Son of Naruto and Sakura: 

Its partly inspired by that, although not entirely. 

To Suifox: 

I don't know about that… It doesn't make sense. If people can't do jutsu that are not in their charkra affinity, then the Sharingan wouldn't be a feared bloodline, since they're likely to be only able to copy and use just fire jutsu. Plus, Kakashi used several different elements before and I doubt he had all those affinities. 

To Blackfang1983: 

I already have some ideas for taijutsu and stuff, but thanks anyways. 

To Diego Void: 

His inheritance will be revealed, but not for a while. And Naruto will learn the rasengan so don't worry. He'll still use the kage bunshin a lot. 

To FinalMax: 

Seriously, I could've been wrong. But I'm too lazy to change it anyways. And I've used ankle weights before so I know how it feels to wear weights. 20kg per limb is a lot of weight. I'll struggle with lifting 20kg with both arms. But since they are ninja in the fic and super powered anyways, it wasn't too farfetched. 

To Sir MIDNIGHT The DarkSlayer: 

It is kinda like the Juuken. Striking tenketsu and pressure points is the same basic principle. But the execution is completely different to Juuken. There'll be more details later in the fic. As for Tsunade's technique, with the way I had Naruto learn it, there are a lot of weaknesses to it. So it won't make Naruto overpowered but still powerful. 

To Demonkid: 

Ha ha, considering how many Naruto fanfics out there, there's not much that hasn't been done before. 

To dadude: 

You'll have to see how it is with Naruto and Hinata. Although I haven't completely decided how to go about their interactions. It'll still be at least a few more chapters away, so I have time to figure it out. 

To ShadowDragonGX: 

Sorry, but it won't be named that. It might resemble bakusai tenketsu, but like I described it, its just Tsunade super strength in a finger poke. I was inspired more by having Tsunade flicking Naruto in the head with one finger than the Bakusai tenketsu. And no, I won't be copying ki blasts from another series to be Naruto's special attack. I want something original. Although I'll probably still borrow elements here and there from several different series. 

To The Rogue Stallion: 

While the pranks help improve Naruto's skills, he doesn't have training in mind while pranking. He's looking to gain attention only, so he doesn't get the full benefit. So in this case, it had been more or less useless. 

To battousai222: 

I'm not going to answer most of your questions since it'll ruin the surprise. As for making Naruto sound weak that was intentional because it'll be more surprising to other characters when he reveals his real strength. 

To LD 1449: 

I'm mostly spacing out his training. By the time he gets into the chunin exams, he would've had six months to grow stronger. That's a fair bit of time. So chunin level is fairly believable. But he won't be beating any jounin any time soon. 

To TSBasilisk: 

He didn't really copy her combat style, just the super strength. And even then, its not perfect since he could do it with only one finger rather than the whole body like Tsunade, and not as powerful. That's hardly counted as an entire style. 

To yohmomma: 

I'm glad you like my story. Though I can't claim that my writing is as good as you say. I've seen some well-written fics around and mine sucks compared to them. 

To Sean harper: 

It's not as much flaws as actually areas that I could improve. I can't seem to be able to fix the mechanical feel for some reason. So my skill isn't at the level I want to be at yet. Actually, I haven't been flamed for not making Naruto overly strong. In fact most told me not to make him too strong. 

To Useful76: 

Nah, I don't want to add the number of reviews for my story from myself. Plus, I don't mind replying to reviews. I do that during the time I'm thinking of things to write. And it gives me some inspiration and ideas. 


	4. Chapter 4: Wave

CHAPTER 4: WAVE

* * *

"This is Sasuke, arrived at point B" a voice sounded over the radio. 

"This is Sakura, arrived at point C" Sakura's voice could be heard through the radio a second later.

After a moment silence a third voice sounded over the radio.

"This is Naruto arrived at point A".

"You're slow, Naruto" Kakashi reprimanded.

Naruto grumbled slightly at being chastised. 'Damn… Shouldn't have upped my weights so much in one go' Naruto thought, grimacing slightly feeling the strain on his body. 

"Ok team 7… Eh?" Kakashi paused, as he was about to give the command, surprised by sudden movement. 

"The target has moved! After it!" Kakashi ordered.

A small dark blur could be seen moving from bush to bush, dashing madly to hide from the following ninjas. 

After the target, three figures could be seen ducking around their hiding spots behind trees to get a glimpse of their target, maintaining it in their sights.

"Okay, he's there" Naruto confirmed through the radio.

They quickly moved from tree to tree, gaining ground on the target while keeping as silent as they could to hide their presence.

Kakashi held his microphone and questioned his team "What's the distance to the target".

"Five meters, I'm ready to go" Naruto responded.

"Sasuke, ready to go" Sasuke confirmed.

"Me too" Sakura replied.

"Okay… Go!" Kakashi ordered.

Naruto took a quick dash towards the target and then dived, tackling the target into the ground before capturing it in a death grip.

"I got you!" Naruto cheered.

"Does it have a ribbon on it's right ear? Is out target Tora?" Kakashi questioned.

The target revealing itself to be a cat began to scratch the shit out of Naruto. Naruto lifted the cat out further away from himself to not get scratched but struggled to maintain grip on the cat. 

"It's the target for sure," Sasuke confirmed.

"Okay 'Operation capture Tora the lost pet' complete" Kakashi concluded.

"ISN'T THERE A MORE EXCITING MISSION WE CAN WORK ON?!" Two massively loud voices could be heard from Kakashi's earphone causing the jounin to fall on his ass.

* * *

"Oh! My cute Tora-chan. I was so worried about you!" 

The fire lord's wife, madam Shijimi death hugged the cat while rubbing her face against the poor cat. Tora's eyes bulged out of their sockets struggling to breath from the tightness of the hug. Tears could be seen leaking from the cat's eyes. 

Naruto smirked at the cat's discomfort. 'That cat's getting what he deserves'

"No wonder why he ran away…." Sakura quipped.

After the woman paid for the mission and left, the Hokage cleared his throat to get the team's attention. 

"Now then, Kakashi's unit 7's next mission is…. " The Hokage read from a piece of paper while smoking from his pipe. 

"… Babysitting Yojyu-sama's boys, Grocery shopping at the neighbouring town… Help dig up potatoes at…"

"No!" Naruto demanded. "No thanks! I want more exciting missions! Choose something else!"

'There's some truth to that' Sasuke thought, also wanting better missions to improve his skills.

Sakura just rolled her eyes.

Kakashi just sighed having seen this coming for a long time. D ranked missions are after all, the bane of a ninja's career. 

Iruka slammed his hands onto the table. "Idiot! You're still a rookie ninja. Everyone needs to start with easy missions to gain experience…"

"But we've only been doing dumb missions lately" Naruto argued.

Kakashi slammed a fist into the top of Naruto's head knocking him to the ground.

"Naruto. It looks like I need to explain to you what missions are…" The Hokage lectured. 

"Listen, a lot of clients come to this village everyday. They request things from babysitting to assassinations. These requests are separated into A, B, C or D rank according to difficulty. We higher officials assign the missions to appropriate ranking ninja with appropriate abilities. You have all become genin recently, so D ranked missions are the best for you". The Hokage unrolled the list of D ranked missions before looking at team 7. 

"I had tonkotsu ramen yesterday, so I'm going to eat a miso ramen today" Naruto mumbled to himself, looking away from the Hokage deliberately trying to piss the leader of the village off and doing a damn good job at it.

"Listen!" The Hokage roared.

"I'm sorry" Kakashi sheepishly apologised as he had also tuned out the Hokage's boring lecture. 

"Look Jiji. We've been doing D ranked missions for a couple of months now. Our teamwork is high enough for a higher-level mission. We're wasting out talents and effort doing these… chores. Unlike Team 8 that specialises in stealth and reconnaissance, and team 10 in infiltrations and assassination. We, team 7, are a combat specialist team. With Sakura providing long range and genjutsu support while me and Sasuke engage close range with ninjutsu and taijutsu. We're never gonna get better if we don't get to at least fight some bandits, and definitely not by catching cats or buying groceries" Naruto argued. 

Everyone looked at Naruto in wonder. Since when did he get so mature? And when had he gotten so smart? And how did he know what the teams specialised in? 

Sarutobi looked at Naruto proudly. He was happy to see him mature so much in the last few months since he had became genin. He was glad the boy's true talent were finally beginning to show through. 

The Hokage laughed lightly. C ranked missions were generally fairly low risk anyways. It wouldn't hurt for them to gain some experience. Naruto had been right, a combat team cannot gain experience in their field without some experience in real combat. 

"Alright. I will allow you a C ranked mission. It's an escort mission" Sarutobi informed the team. 

"Can you please come in now!" The Hokage called out. 

Team 7 watched as the door slid open to reveal a bearded man holding a bottle of sake. 

"What? They're all kids!" The man cried out in disappointment. 

To the team's chagrin, the man brought his bottle of sake to his lips and began chugging down as much of the contents as he could in one gulp. And they watched dumbfounded as their client leaned drunkenly against the doorframe, struggling to stand. 

"Hey… is that blonde one really a ninja?" The man drunkenly said. 

Naruto just ignored him but was inwardly planning his revenge. 'He'll regret saying that after I show him why I'm the king of pranks…'

"I am the bridge construction expert, Tazuna. I will have all of you protect my life with yours until I complete the bridge" The man declared.

* * *

Naruto found the mission to be quite refreshing. He had never been out of Konoha his entire life, and he wondered what it was like outside of his village. 

The team travelled at a moderate pace along a dirt path towards the country of wave. To Naruto's disappointment, nothing exciting had happened. It was not until the third day of travel when something happened. 

As they continued down the path, they walked past a puddle of water in the middle of the road. Kakashi took a brief look at it, but otherwise didn't seem to pay it much mind, and kept walking.

Naruto gave the puddle a curious glance, but decided to follow Kakashi's example and pretended to ignore it. But inwardly, he was smirking. 'I trained with a genjutsu specialist. There's no way you can catch me with a dodgy genjutsu like that'. 

Though he had to admit, Kurenai's training had improved his observation and detection skills drastically. If he hadn't had that training, he would've probably missed it entirely. 

As they passed the puddle, Kakashi began slowing down his walking pace so he could linger at the back of the group to protect Tazuna and his team. 

After they passed, two masked figures rose from the puddle before rushing at Kakashi, throwing their bladed chain around him. The chain wrapped around the jounin, making him unable to move. 

"First one!" a voice called out. 

The two masked figures yanked at the chain, the small blades on the chain digging into Kakashi's flesh, eventually tearing Kakashi apart. 

Sakura looked on in shock, while Sasuke looked on impassively, as if he didn't really care Kakashi had just died. It would not do for him to lose his cool now, in the time of battle. He would worry about Kakashi's death later. 

Naruto on the other hand smirked as he knew Kakashi had known there were enemy ninja and had easily escaped. 'Kawarimi?' he thought in wonder. It truly was a simple, yet very effective technique. It was no wonder it was a basic requirement technique for all ninja. 

Sakura screamed in fear as blood and remains of 'Kakashi' splattered all over the ground, kicking a cloud of dirt. 

Not giving the team to recover, the two figures rushed behind Naruto. 

"Second one". 

They were almost sure it would be an easy kill. The boy was only a genin after all. 

Naruto stood there unmoving. To others, it would seem almost like he was frozen in fear. But if they could see his face, they would see the smirk he still sported. He was ready for this. 

The cloaked men launched their chain at Naruto. But before it even came close, Sasuke already moved and thrown a shuriken, catching the chain, embedding it into a tree on the side of the path. A kunai quickly found itself lodged into the tree through the hole of the shuriken, effectively holding the chain in place. 

The two assailants yanked harshly at the chain, but it refused to be dislodged from the tree. The kunai was simply embedded too deeply in the tree for them to remove it easily. 

In a flash, the Uchiha had jumped onto the two men's back, grabbing both by their heavy metal gauntlets in each hand, before kicking them in the face. 

'Show off…' Naruto almost rolled his eyes at his teammate's use of flashy moves. Personally, he would just pound their face in. 

Despite the blow to the face, the two men recovered quickly, immediately releasing the chain that held them to the tree from the metal contraption on their arms. The two men that had been once connected together by the chain now split apart, one rushing at Naruto once again, the other rushing directly at Tazuna. 

Naruto had been ready and quickly moved in front of Sakura and Tazuna who were both still terrified after witnessing the 'demise' of their jounin team leader. 

Though admirably, Sakura had still managed to draw a kunai from her holster in an attempt to protect their client. But the fear was evident. Her body was shivering uncontrollably in fight. And she was cringing back slightly. 

"Don't worry, Sakura" Naruto assured her with a soothing tone. Sakura relaxed her tense body slightly, the image of her dying a gruesome death like Kakashi had was temporarily replaced by a safe and warm feeling triggered by Naruto's assuring tone. 

But her fear rose once again as she watched the two men close in on them, her body froze once again, too frightened to even think to dodge or block. 

A soft popping noise came from behind them, making Sakura and Tazuna almost die from heart attack. It had only been a clone Naruto created that made the noise when it suddenly popped into existence. But it had been so sudden it made both Sakura and Tazuna jump in fright. The clone got into a ready stance, forming a circle around Sakura and the client, along with the real Naruto and Sasuke who had moved into formation, protecting Sakura and Tazuna from harm from all directions. 

Naruto and his clone stood impassively in a ready stance, waiting for the perfect moment to strike as the men closed in on them. Hidden beneath their sleeves, they had drawn a kunai in each hand. 

But before Naruto had a chance to react, Kakashi decided it was time to step in, lest his team be injured. 

In a blink of an eye, Kakashi had both assailants knocked out and captured in a headlock. 

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise. 

"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura cried out in relief and shock at seeing the jounin alive. She looked to the spot where his supposed remains had been and found a log cut into pieces. 

Tazuna sighed in relief under his breath. 'I'm saved'.

Kakashi gave his team a proud look. "Good work team" he praised, although his gaze lingered a bit on Naruto. 

He reviewed his team's performance in that exchange. Sasuke did quite well as expected, and Sakura while scared did manage to place herself in front of the client. But Naruto had handled the situation surprisingly well. He had expected the boy to do quite poorly in his first life and death situation. He knew that the first combat experience for a ninja was always the most dangerous and has the highest chance for casualties. It was one of the reasons he had let his team handle the enemy ninja at first, so they would know what it was like in that kind of situation so they won't freeze up when he wasn't there to help. 

But Naruto did not seem surprised that he got away. Even Sasuke was a little surprised he lived even if he hid it well. And the blonde had remained calm enough to protect both Tazuna and Sakura. And even though the kage bunshin only required one hand seal, he had not seen Naruto form it. The boy had certainly come a long way since the team started. 

The jounin then turned to Tazuna. "By the way, Tazuna-san…"

"What is it" The man stuttered. Even though Kakashi had looked at him with his usual dispassionate and lazy expression, he could not deny that he was really intimidated. 

"… I need to talk to you".

* * *

It only took Kakashi several moments, to bind the two assailants to a tree with rope. He studied them for a few seconds before informing his team of his discoveries. 

"The demon brothers. These guys are chunin-class ninja from Kirigakure. They are ninja known to keep fighting no matter the cost", Kakashi explained.

"How were you able to detect our action?" One of the assailants demanded.

"It hasn't rained for the past few days, and it's sunny today, so a water puddle shouldn't exist" Kakashi said. 

"Why did you let the kids fight when you knew that?" Tazuna asked.

"If I was up to it, I could have killed these two in a blink of an eye. But I need to know who the target for these two was", Kakashi clarified, before levelling a dangerous glare at Tazuna.

Tazuna gulped nervously, but pretended to be innocent. "What do you mean?"

"In other words, were you the one being targeted, or someone from our ninja group. We have not heard anything about you being targeted by ninja. Your request was to protect you from armed groups like gangs and robbers. If ninja were our enemy, this mission would have been an expensive B rank. It looks like you have your reasons, but it only makes it troublesome for us if you lie in your request details".

"This mission is out of our league. Let's just quit", Sakura finally said sounding more than a little scared. 

"No" Naruto stated firmly. "We asked for a C ranked mission. We can't give up now. And I'd rather continue than go back to catching cats". 

Sasuke agreed, having no desire to return to d ranked missions. Plus, he easily handled these so called chunin level ninjas. Sure, the next time will likely be stronger ninja, but that's what he wanted. He wanted to test his strength against strong opponents so he would know how far he was from Itachi's level. 

Seeing both of her teammates refusing to back down, Sakura relented. She looked at her teammates in amazement. Both of them were so confident and strong. Sasuke was his usual cool self, but she had honestly thought Naruto would've panicked just as much as she had when they had watched Kakashi get killed. And she couldn't describe it. But she felt warm and safe when Naruto reassured her with his words. 

He was so calm and composed even in that situation. A thought crossed her mind. Was this really Naruto? The same boy that failed the genin test three times? 

* * *

"The mist is so thick, I can't see what's ahead" Sakura commented as she fidgeted slightly while sitting on the boat. The attack by the mist chunin earlier made her nervous. 

"We should be able to see the bridge soon. If we move along the side of the bridge, we'll be at the country of wave" The person rowing the boat said in a hushed tone. 

When they got closer, they were finally able to see the bridge. The sight of the bridge made Naruto stare in awe. Having never been out of Konoha in his life, he had never seen a bridge anywhere near as big as this one. 

'It's HUUUUGE' he thought. 

"Tazuna-san… before the boat gets to the pier, there's something I need to ask you…" Kakashi began, deciding it was time to find out the secret Tazuna seemed to be hiding.

"I need to know the identity of the ones who are after you. And the reason they are after you. Or we can call the mission off when we get ashore". 

Tazuna stayed silent for a few moments before finally speaking, realising that it was inevitable that he had to reveal the truth if he still wanted their protection. 

"As you said, this mission is most likely out of your job description. There's an extremely terrible man after my life'.

"An extremely terrible man?" Kakashi asked in a curious tone. 

"Yes" Tazuna confirmed. 

"Who is it?" Kakashi inquired calmly. 

"You should have at least heard of the name of the marine transport billionaire, Gatoh" Tazuna revealed. 

"Gatoh? The one from Gatoh company? He's one of the richest men in this world" Kakashi said a little surprised that such a man would be involved in this.

"Yes, he is the president of the marine transportation company on the outside… But underneath, he uses gangs and ninja to smuggle drugs and illegal goods. He also does nasty jobs like takeovers of other companies and countries. A year ago, he set his sights on the country of wave. He entered this country using violence and wealth as his shield and quickly took over the island's sea traffic and transportation. On an island like the country of wave, controlling the sea means ruling over the wealth, politics and the people. And the one thing that Gatoh is afraid of is the completion of the bridge that has been under construction for quite some time".

"I see, so you as the one building the bridge became an obstacle to him" Sakura summarised.

"Then those ninja were sent by Gatoh?" Sasuke summed up. 

"But I don't understand. He's a dangerous man that uses ninjas. Why did you hide that fact when you came to us?" Kakashi inquired. 

"Nami no kuni is a really poor country. Even the Daimyo don't have much money. We don't have the money to request for an expensive B ranked mission or above. If you quit the mission after I land, I'll be killed for sure" Tazuna explained his situation. 

Deciding the only way to convince the ninja to help him was to guilt trip them, Tazuna continued. "But there's no need for you to blame yourselves. Only my cute eight year old grandson will cry and cry some more…" 

"… And my daughter will just hold a grudge against Konoha ninja and live a lonely life" Tazuna exaggerated. "But it's not your fault…"

Team 7 looked at each other slightly ashamed that they had considered abandoning the old man. Kakashi scratched his hitai-ate with a finger in contemplation before deciding the team's course of action.

"I guess it can't be helped, we will continue escorting you".

"That's good to hear" Tazuna said with hope in his eyes. 

"We're almost there Tazuna, looks like we haven't been noticed yet." The rower said.

"Thanks" Tazuna replied gratefully and relieved there had not been any more incidents, yet. 

As they got off the boat, the feeling of danger increased. And the team became more nervous. 

'The next time they attack, they will send jounin level ninja instead of chunin level. Oh well…' Kakashi contemplated while heightening his guard. He was annoyed at being given such a troublesome mission. 

As they walked, Naruto began to get the feeling they were being watched and tightened his guard. He extended his senses trying to find the one spying on them. 

'There!'

In one motion, Naruto drew and then threw the kunai into a bush, at the presence he had sensed. His teammates and Tazuna jumped slightly, startled by his sudden action. Kakashi on the other hand had also noticed the presence. 

"What are you doing Naruto! Are you trying to scare us?" Sakura screamed at him. 

Naruto ignored her complaints and slowly and cautiously approached the bush. 

Sakura's felt a little disappointed that Naruto completely ignore her, not even sparing her a glance. 

Behind the bush revealed a white rabbit that was almost nailed to the tree behind the bush. 

"Naruto! Look what you've done!" Sakura berated the blonde for almost killing such a cute little creature.

Naruto ignored Sakura's berating and frowned looking at the rabbit. 'A rabbit shouldn't have triggered my senses. And at this range I shouldn't have missed hitting it with my kunai. That means it was likely used for Kawarimi. Whoever it is, they are no amateur, and they've come prepared'. 

Kakashi was having similar thoughts. 'That was a snow rabbit. But they only have white fur during winter when the days are short. That means it was raised inside a place without sun specifically for the replacement technique'. 

Kakashi snuck a glance at his team. 'Naruto seems to have it figured out. And Sasuke has caught on as well. Good. But Sakura doesn't seem to be ready for this'. 

He focused his senses to search the area, while keeping up his lazy appearance making him seem like he was unaware. A faint presence prickled his senses. 

'So one have come already…'

* * *

Up above the team in the trees, a figure watched. 

'I see. Ninja at the level of the Demon brothers can't handle this. That is Konoha's copy ninja. Sharingan no Kakashi'

The small twitch in his facial muscles reveals that he was grinning, eager to fight the famed Konoha nin. His muscles tensed, then grasped the hilt of his sword over his right shoulder and moved to attack. 

Kakashi's danger signals suddenly went blaring. A whistle through the air lets him know a projectile weapon was thrown at them. And from the speed and sound, a very large weapon was heading their way. 

"Everyone, duck!"

A massive zanbatou type sword came flying at the group from the trees above. Kakashi acted quickly and tackled Tazuna to the floor, hoping his team would react in time to dodge. 

The members of team 7 dove to the floor at Kakashi's instruction, narrowly being missed by the sword by mere centimetres. 

The sword flew past them and was embedded into a tree twenty feet behind them. 

By the time they recovered, a figure stood upon the handle of the zanbatou, looking down upon them from the elevate position of the sword. 

The man was shirtless and masked and wore a mist hitai-ate on his head. 

Naruto stared warily at the man who now stared down upon them as if they were his prey. That look alone puts him on edge. He knew without a doubt that this man could take him apart with ease. And the sheer size of that massive slab of steel that was a sword, the man now stood on intimidated him all the more. A man that could not only lift the Zanbatou, but also use it effectively must be insanely strong. 

Kakashi frowned as he studied the man. This man… If he guessed right about his identity, then he was in the fight of his life. He swore to himself. His team was not ready for a confrontation with this kind of opponent. The grey haired man tensed his body preparing for battle. If he were by himself, then it wouldn't be a problem. But with his team… 

"You are Momochi Zabuza the nukenin from the hidden village of the mist" Kakashi spoke to the nukenin in a carefree and unworried tone, unwilling to show any weakness to the enemy. 

Inwardly, Kakashi constantly evaluated the skill of the man. 

'If he's our enemy… then I can't win like this…' he thought. His hand reached up to his hitai-ate as if preparing to pull it upwards. 

"I'm guessing you are Kakashi the Sharingan user" The former Kiri nin spoke.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Kakashi. 'Sharingan? How did Kakashi sensei get the Sharingan? It's an Uchiha bloodline trait!' 

"Sorry, but you'll need to hand over the geezer" Zabuza said in a gruff voice.

Kakashi frowned at this. If Zabuza's mission were to kill Tazuna, then this fight would be unavoidable. The grey haired man tensed once again knowing that his team's survival now rested on his shoulders. 

"Everyone, form the swastika formation, protect Tazuna-san. Don't join the battle." Kakashi ordered in an uncharacteristically grave tone. 

"What?" Sakura asked taken aback. Naruto frowned at Kakashi's orders. Their team leader had always demanded proper teamwork from them. Now he wants them to not help at all?

"Not interfering with this battle is teamwork" Kakashi reassured them, as if he could read his thoughts. Naruto decided to obey Kakashi's orders, knowing that they would likely just get in the way if they got involved. 

Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate up from his covered eye, revealing a red implanted Sharingan eye. Naruto widened slightly seeing the scar and the eye. He briefly compared the red eye of the Sharingan to the eyes of his genjutsu sensei. Unlike Kurenai's eyes, the Sharingan looked almost demonic. 

"Oh? I'm honoured to see the Sharingan that I've heard so much about" Zabuza said to Kakashi in a mocking tone. 

"Sharingan… What does it do?" Naruto muttered under his breath. Even though he had read somewhere that the Sharingan was one of Konoha's premier bloodlines, he had no idea what it does. 

Squeezing the chance to boast the power of the Uchiha bloodline, Sasuke explained. 

"Sharingan, is said to have powers that can see through all genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu and cancel their effects. But that's not the only ability the Sharingan possesses…"

Naruto raises an eyebrow at Sasuke's explanation. He thought these abilities alone were more than enough. And there was more? 

"Correct. That isn't it. The scary part is that Sharingan can understand how an opponent's technique works and copy it" Zabuza explained. 

Zabuza looked to Kakashi. "When I was in the Kiri's ANBU, your information was listed in the bingo book, having a bounty on your capture. It noted that you copied more than 1000 techniques. The man known as Kakashi the copy ninja!" 

The genins stared at Kakashi with newfound respect. Sakura found herself staring at Kakashi in awe and jaws dropped. She didn't expect that the laid back and lazy bum of a jounin to have that great of a reputation. "What? Kakashi-sensei was that great of a ninja?"

But Sasuke gave their sensei a look of suspicion. He knew that the Sharingan was a special trait that appears only in limited people within the Uchiha clan. But aside from Itachi, he was the only other Uchiha left. 'Could he be?' he wondered. 

"Let's cut the chit-chat. I have to kill the geezer now" Zabuza said, eager for a fight with the famed Kakashi. He bent down slightly into a crouching position atop his perch on his sword hilt. 

Quickly, the genins of team 7 moved into the swastika formation around Tazuna each standing on one side of Tazuna with a kunai drawn, in a ready stance and preparing to protect the old man with their life. 

"It seems I have to defeat you first" Zabuza addressed to Kakashi. 

Pushing off the tree with his feet for leverage, Zabuza yanked his sword free from the tree and jumped atop the lake ahead of the Konoha ninja group. With the sword once more strapped to his back, Zabuza moulded chakra to stand on the surface of the water. Forming a seal, the assassin began channelling large amounts of chakra into the water underneath him. 

"Over there!" Naruto warned his teammates. 

"He's on top of the water?" Sakura uttered, stunned at this feat. Having no idea of the water walking technique, she had no idea it could be done. Naruto and Sasuke however, stayed impassive. Even though Sasuke was inwardly impressed. 

Kakashi spread his legs to shoulder width apart, bending his knees slightly. He tensed his calf muscles slightly, preparing to move quickly to counter Zabuza's initiative. 

'He's embedding a lot of chakra into the water' Kakashi thought. He wondered what the Kiri nin was going to do. 

"Ninpo: Kirigakure no jutsu!" Zabuza muttered underneath his breath. 

Instantly, a thick mist formed around the man. In seconds, he was entirely shrouded from view. The mist expanded slowly, the Konoha ninjas and Tazuna becoming more and more nervous as their vision steadily decreased. 

'He disappeared' Naruto thought to himself. The blonde knew that without his vision, it would be hard to fight a man that was obviously accustomed to fighting in these conditions. Otherwise, Zabuza wouldn't have used this jutsu. 

Kakashi moved forwards several step from the team towards where Zabuza had been standing. 

"Sensei!" Sakura called to Kakashi in concern, not only for Kakashi being too far for them to help, but also because they could no longer rely on Kakashi to protect them. 

"He'll try to eliminate me first…" Kakashi reassured her "but…"

"What is he?" Sakura whispered, terrified at having to face someone like Zabuza. 

"Momochi Zabuza, he was in Kirigakure's ANBU and was known for his silent killing techniques..." Kakashi explained. 

'Silent?' All of team 7 thought in unison. 

"Just as the name implies, it's a killing technique that's executed quickly and in complete silence. It's possible that you'll be dead before you realise it. And I can't use my Sharingan to it's full potential in this mist. So don't let your guard down".

Team 7 tensed even further knowing that in the fog, if Kakashi couldn't fight to his full potential, then they stood no chance. 

"But if you fail, you're only going to die…" Kakashi tried to reassure them, but he ended up failing miserably at it. 

Sakura gulped in fear. 

Naruto frowned as he realised that the mist had gotten even thicker. He set himself deeper into his stance, his entire body on edge. Naruto frowned even more as the mist had gotten to the point where they could no longer even see Kakashi, who supposedly only stood less than ten feet ahead of them. 

The blonde genin realised that they had to stay sharp if they were to survive this. If he could not see, then he'd have to use his other senses. He had improved his other senses in his training to fight against genjutsu. He extended his senses outwards, trying to detect Zabuza by smell, sound and chakra. 

"Sensei!" Sakura called under her breath worriedly as she could no longer see Kakashi. 

"Eight points…" A voice reverberated around them. The genins tensed from the malice in the voice. 

"What is this?" Sakura asked herself. Naruto frowned slightly. He could not determine the direction the voice came from. He knew what it was. Chakra enhanced speech. It was originally a technique that could carry sound wave through large distances. But in this case, the voice seemed to come from all directions at once. Even if his hearing had improved, it simply wasn't good enough. 

"The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney and heart… Now where do you want to get struck at…?" The voice continued. 

Team 7 and Tazuna felt a shiver down their spines and sweated nervously. Naruto gritted his teeth, finding himself heavily intimidated. He took a look at Sasuke who stood in formation beside him equally unnerved. 

Naruto took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. His fear was distracting him from using his other senses. He could not afford that in this situation. He forcibly suppressed his fear and his hand tightened its grip on his kunai to stop his shaking. 

Several feet away from them, Kakashi formed a seal and released large amounts of chakra from his body. The chakra swirled around him, flickering and swaying like a flame. The chakra suddenly increased in intensity, and then swirling violently around the man, creating a gust of wind that completely blew away the surrounding mist. Eventually, the intense glow of his chakra settled into a faint blue hue that surrounded the jounin's silhouette. 

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief now that he could see again. But the killing intent in the atmosphere kept him on edge. 

But Sasuke began sweating heavily, eyes widening in terror at Kakashi's display of power. 'What an intense thirst for blood… This atmosphere… I feel like if I make one movement, I'll be detected and it'll get me killed… If I stay here for an hour, I'll lose my mind'.

Sasuke tried desperately to suppress his fear, but to no avail. His body disobeyed his commands and began shaking uncontrollably. 

Naruto frowned seeing Sasuke freaking out in the corner of his eye. He gritted his teeth slightly as he noted that Sakura was also in the same condition. He knew this was simply Zabuza's intimidation tactics to make them lose the will to fight. The killing intent was strong, but he managed to suppress it as best as he could with pure determination. But he was distressed to see it working on his teammates. With them in this state, they would be of no help to him or Kakashi. Naruto looked concernedly at Sasuke. If in the chance that Kakashi could not defeat Zabuza, he would need Sasuke's help. 

He hoped fervently that Kakashi would be able to handle Zabuza. He knew that despite his lazy and laid-back attitude, the man was probably one of Konoha's best ninja. But if his instincts weren't failing him, then Zabuza was at Kakashi's level. The battle could easily go either way. 

But Sasuke seemed to get worse by the second. His shivering was getting stronger. 

'The murderous intent of two jounins clashing… The feeling that my life is in someone's hand… No! I would rather kill myself to escape this feeling…' 

The raven-haired boy's hands trembled heavily, as he slowly brought the bladed end of the kunai he held, towards himself. 

"Sasuke"

Kakashi's calm voice startled the boy, though calming him down slightly. 

"Don't worry, I'll protect the three of you with my life. I won't let anyone on my team die" The resolve in his tone of voice calmed the genins down a bit more. 

"I don't know about that..." Zabuza disagreed with Kakashi's proclamation. 

In an instant, Zabuza had moved. Naruto narrowed his eyes as he realised Zabuza was trying to get behind them, between them and Tazuna. 

Naruto squeezed the handle of his kunai and swung his weapon behind him at Zabuza. 

With a loud clang, Naruto's kunai was blocked by Zabuza with his zanbatou drawn. The Blond gritted his teeth and pushed against the sword, but struggling to push the pressure back. 

Sasuke and Sakura's eyes widened to find Zabuza behind them without them even realising it before it was too late. And their eyes widened even more as Naruto was doing his best to hold back Zabuza. 

Naruto gritted his teeth even more, as the pressure from Zabuza's blade was slowly forcing him to his knees. But suddenly, Naruto found the pressure gone. He backed away a bit from Zabuza and blinked at the sight of Kakashi half crouched beside the assassin, with his kunai embedded into Zabuza's stomach. 

But rather than blood, water leaked from the wound falling onto the ground. Before either Naruto or Kakashi could react to the fact that it had been a clone, the real Zabuza had moved behind Kakashi, while the fake exploded into a mass of water. With a swipe with his zanbatou, Kakashi was cut cleanly in half. 

To everybody's shock, Kakashi's body exploded into water. 

'Mizu bunshin no jutsu?' Zabuza's eyes widened. 'Did he copy it… in this mist?'

Before Zabuza could even blink, a kunai was held to his throat by Kakashi from behind. 

"Don't move" the Konoha jounin commanded. "This is the end!"

The genins having backed away from the two clashing ninja stared in awe of their sensei. They smiled slightly at seeing Kakashi coming out on top. But their smile faded when Zabuza began laughing in a low dark tone. 

Kakashi's eyes widened in surprised that even being captured that Zabuza could laugh. 

"This is the end? You don't understand. You can't defeat me with just your indiscriminate imitations, I can assure you that." Zabuza mocked completely ignoring the fact that a kunai was being held to his neck. 

Kakashi frowned in worry at the confidence in Zabuza's tone. Did the man still have another trick up his sleeve? He tensed his arm slightly, securing his grip on his kunai and ready to slit Zabuza's throat if he made any sudden movements. 

"But you're pretty good. I see that you had copied my water clone technique when you told your team you wouldn't let them die. By making your clone speak, you diverted my attention to the clone, while the real one used the Kirigakure no jutsu I cast to hide and observe my movements…"

Zabuza smirked. "However… I'm not that easy to defeat".

Kakashi's eyes widened in shock as another Zabuza appeared right behind him, while the one Kakashi captured exploded into water. 

The three genins' eyes widened in shock and thought in unison 'That one's a fake too!' 

Kakashi turned around just in time to duck under Zabuza's sword. Zabuza having been prepared and had expected Kakashi to be able to dodge it, swung his sword embedding it into the ground. Pushing off the hilt for leverage to increase reaction time, Zabuza turned and kicked Kakashi in the gut, sending the Konoha nin into the air in the direction of the lake. 

Grabbing the hilt of his sword, Zabuza pulled it out of the ground and rushed after Kakashi. 

Zabuza suddenly stopped his rush as he noticed that even having been struck, Kakashi had managed to litter the ground with caltrops, hoping to injure his feet when he gave chase. 

"How idiotic" Zabuza snorted at the foolish move as Kakashi had obviously used the trap to cover him diving into the lake to regroup and regain his bearings and tactical advantage. Zabuza merely jumped over the caltrops and dived into the lake after Kakashi. 

"His taijutsu skill is superb too…" Sasuke muttered under his breath as he watched Kakashi being kicked away. It made him nervous that Kakashi was losing the fight. The idea of having to face someone like this did not sound good. 

A moment later, Kakashi surfaced from under water with half his body still submerged. The jounin frowned as he felt the water to be unusually heavy. 

'What's with this water? It's heavy for some reason' 

"Idiot!" Zabuza ridiculed as he appeared above Kakashi. His massive sword was once again strapped to his back, and he was already forming a chain of seals with his hands. 

"Suirou no jutsu!"

Kakashi looked behind him and swore. "Shit!" There was no way he could react fast enough to get out of this. Instantly, a sphere of water surrounded Kakashi effectively capturing him within the shell of water. 

The copy nin let out a defeated sigh, knowing he had made a tactical mistake. 'I thought I could use the water as cover, but it turned out to be a mistake on my part'.

He looked up at Zabuza who had his arm connected to the water prison holding the jutsu. 

Zabuza laughed at the jounin's mistake. "You fell for it. This is a special prison that you can't escape from. Now then, Kakashi, I'm going to finish you off later". 

The former mist nin turned to look at the rest of team 7. "First, I'm going to get rid of them".

Team 7 flinched as they realised that they were next to fight. With Kakashi captured, they didn't stand chance at winning against Zabuza. 

Zabuza formed a seal with one hand "Mizu bunshin no jutsu".

Kakashi gasped at Zabuza's plan to dispose of his team. By using water clones to fight his team, there was nothing he could do for his team. 'I didn't think he was this strong…' 

Water slowly rose from the lake the two jounin stood upon, slowly forming the shape of a man. It slowly solidified and took the form of Zabuza. 

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the clone, preparing himself to fight. He looked to his teammates, finding that neither had completely regained their resolve to fight, still too scared. He cursed. This was a time he really needed their help. 

"The three of you wear you forehead protectors thinking yourself as ninja. But ninja are people that have gone through many life and death situations" Zabuza spoke in an amused tone. "In other words, you can only call yourself a ninja when you appear in my bingo book… You three aren't ninja".

Zabuza formed a half seal with a hand, and the genin found themselves surrounded by mist once again. 

'He disappeared again!' Naruto frowned, as he could no longer see Zabuza. 

The sound of movement alerted Naruto to an incoming attack. He barely dodged it by back flipping several times over the kick Zabuza sent his way before setting himself into a low stance beside his teammates. 

Zabuza's clone raised his eyebrow slightly "Oh? You have some skill to dodge that. But you're all still just kids" Scoffing in disgust. 

"Everyone! Get Tazuna-san and run! You can't win against him. He can't move as long as he has me trapped in this water prison. He won't be able to use his water clone once you get away from him! Run for now!" Kakashi frantically commanded his team, seeing Zabuza finally on the attack. 

Sasuke gritted his teeth in frustration. 'Run? You must be kidding. When you got caught, that was no longer an option. Even if we run, he'll just finish you off and he'll get to us sooner or later. Without you, we'll be annihilated. For us to survive, we have to save you.'

Sasuke took a look at Naruto who looked back at him. They nodded at each other understanding passed through them without the need for words. They had the same thing in mind. They have to fight, or they would die anyways. The only way to survive this was to free Kakashi.

No longer having any other options, Sasuke strengthened his resolve to fight. He rushed at Zabuza's clone, in the process, launching a barrage of shuriken at Zabuza as he ran and never pausing in his steps. 

Seeing five shuriken heading his way, he used the flat part of his massive blade to swat the shuriken away. 

Sasuke took advantage of Zabuza's momentary loss of vision due to the massive sword blocking his view, jumped into the air and cocking both fists back above his head for an overhead hammer strike. 

Zabuza although did not see him jump, quickly realised he was in the air. The former Kiri nin easily grabbed him out of the air by the neck choking him, before tossing him back like twenty feet like a rag doll. 

Sasuke slid along the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt. He breathed heavily and rubbed his throat, trying to ease the pain from being choked. He climbed to his feet slowly before deciding that they needed a plan to free Kakashi. 

"Sasuke-kun" Sakura cried out frantically seeing Sasuke so easily defeated. 

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he watched Sasuke being toyed with. That man was strong. And fast. But… From what he had observed, even though Zabuza's clone had barely moved when Sasuke attacked, he seemed to react to Sasuke's attack much slower than he had expected. The probably meant the water clone was unlike his shadow clone, being weaker than the original in all aspects. If that were the case, then they would be able to defeat the clone if they worked together. Once they defeated the clone, they have one attempt to release Kakashi. If they failed, Zabuza will make a lot more clones in one go the next time. They needed a plan. 

After a moment, Naruto smirked. 

"Hey, No brows! Put this into your bingo book. The man who will become the Hokage one day. The Konoha ninja. Uzumaki Naruto!" He stated confidently.

"Sakura! Protect Tazuna-san. Sasuke, I have a plan" Naruto took command, speaking without turning to look at his teammates, keeping his eyes on Zabuza's clone at all times. He pulled out a fuuma shuriken from his backpack before dropping the pack to the ground. The pack will only get in the way in the fight. He slowly unfolded the fuuma shuriken and prepared to fight. 

'He came up with a plan in this situation?' Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. 

"I can't believe you want to work as a team" Sasuke said in disbelief. 

Sakura stared wide-eyed, mouth gaping in awe. 'What is this feeling? Is this really Naruto?' 

He didn't seem even a bit scared. And he looked so confident. Had he always been this strong? Did she underestimate him that much? And that smirk… When did he get so sexy? 

"Well then, lets go wild!" Naruto roared. 

Zabuza chuckled slightly. "You seem to be confident, but do you even have a chance for victory?"

Kakashi was worried as his team was planning to try to rescue him. 'This isn't good' 

"What are you all doing? I told you to run! The outcome of this battle was decided the moment I was captured! Run! Our mission is to protect Tazuna-san. Did you forget that?" Kakashi cried out to the team, desperately trying to get them not to risk their lives. He didn't want them to die. 

It was technically sound advice in this situation. But the team were reluctant to leave Kakashi to his death. Naruto had taken their sensei's words to heart. Those who abandoned friends and comrades are worse than trash. 

"Os-san" Naruto spoke questioningly to Tazuna who now looked down at the ground in shame for causing their predicament. 

"Don't worry, I caused all of this in the first place. Sorry everyone. Fight as much as you want" he declared.

Sasuke smirked "If that's how it's going to be".

"Are you ready?" Naruto grinned at Sasuke, his blood boiling at the thought of a real battle. He got a small grin in return. 

Zabuza's clone laughed. "You sure don't learn do you? Still pretending to be ninja? When I was your age, my hands were already soaked in blood".

Team 7 gasped, backing up slightly in shock. 

Kakashi gasped "The demon Zabuza?"

"Oh? It looks like you've heard of me." Zabuza said arrogantly.

"A long time ago, the village of the mist was known as the village of the bloody mist. In that village, there was an obstacle that existed to become a ninja" Kakashi narrated.

"So you also know about the final test there". 

"Final test? What is it?" Naruto asked trying to remain impassive.

Zabuza chuckled. "Students have to kill each other… Students were separated into groups of two. Friends that have helped each other, shared their dreams and competed together. And forced to fight… to the death."

Sakura held a hand to her mouth in shock and disgust. "That's awful…"

"Ten years ago, the hidden village of the mist had to go through a reformation because in the previous year, a small boy who had not even gained the right to become a ninja killed more than a hundred of candidates that year without hesitation…" Kakashi told them. 

The real Zabuza looked up slightly as if reminiscing those days. "That was fun…"

Team 7 found their bodies tensing in nervousness at how bloodthirsty he seemed. 

In the blink of an eye, the Zabuza clone closed in on Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened knowing that he wouldn't be able to react to his attack. But before the hit landed, Naruto had placed himself between Zabuza and Sasuke. Holding the fuuma shuriken in his left hand, and a kunai in his right, he swung the kunai at Zabuza's midsection. Zabuza dodged the swipe of the kunai by jumping backwards. 

But a rush of pain let the clone know that he had been stabbed from behind. Naruto smirked slightly. He had formed a clone in perfect timing to strike from behind at the same time he swiped with his kunai. Naruto knew that it only worked because Zabuza underestimated his speed, thinking that he wouldn't be able to intercept his attack on Sasuke. And neither did Zabuza expect him to be capable of making a clone, let alone making one unnoticed. 

He thanked the gods that he had gotten the idea to leave his training weights at home for this mission. There wouldn't have been any chance for him to take them off in this situation if he had worn them. He wouldn't have done so well against Zabuza with the weights on.

With the water clone destroyed, the real Naruto dropped his kunai, then jumped into the air, throwing the fuuma shuriken at the real Zabuza who was still holding onto the water prison. 

Zabuza just smirked. "A shuriken won't work! This is too easy for me!"

Zabuza leaned slightly to one side, letting the fuuma shuriken fly past by him before catching it by the hole in the centre with his free arm. 

A sudden whistle of something travelling through the air broke him from his bragging, as he found another fuuma shuriken heading for him. 

'Another shuriken was in the shadow of the first shuriken? That's the kage shuriken no jutsu!' Zabuza thought.

Sakura and Sasuke watched in awe as Naruto decimated the water clone, before using the kage shuriken no jutsu to attack Zabuza. 

'A second shuriken was in his blind spot?' Sakura thought in surprise, not knowing her teammate's plan. 

But Sasuke frowned knowing that such a low level trick won't be able to defeat Zabuza. 

Zabuza simply jumped over the shuriken while keeping his arm in the water prison, never breaking contact with it with his right arm. 

'Still too easy…' Zabuza thought smugly. 

Sakura stared on in shock as it completely missed Zabuza. 'He dodged it!'

A small smirk found itself forming on Naruto's face. 

Suddenly, the fuuma shuriken that flew past Zabuza turned into Naruto, in a cloud of smoke. Everyone's eyes widened, but none more so than Zabuza. 

The transformed Naruto roared. "Now!" And threw a kunai at Zabuza from behind. 

Zabuza knowing that he had underestimated these genin knew he had to release the prison. 

But the real Naruto taking advantage of a distracted Zabuza, used the shunshin no jutsu to get in close, disappearing and reappearing right in front of the man. Naruto gave the silent assassin a hard punch to the chest, launching him backwards, breaking the prison in the process and directly into the path of the kunai. 

Zabuza's eyes widened even further as he realised that he couldn't dodge the kunai and was too disoriented from the punch to catch it. All he could do was raise his arm to shield himself. 

Zabuza roared in pain as the blade pierced and embedding it into his arm. But before he had time to recover, a voice shocked the hell out of him. 

"Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu!" 

Zabuza watched as the Naruto clone that had been disguised as a shuriken, and then thrown the kunai, was now standing atop the lake. Catching the Naruto clone making the last of the set of seals, and then a fireball heading his way, Zabuza quickly dropped the fuuma shuriken he still held in his left hand and dived frantically out of the way. 

Zabuza breathed heavily, barely escaping from the katon jutsu. Seeing as Naruto didn't press the attack, he took the time to pull the kunai out of his arm. He winced slightly from the pain and ignored the blood that was now flowing from the wound.

He had gotten careless and had seriously underestimated these kids. He couldn't believe a genin had wounded him. That really pissed him off. His wound wasn't lethal, but it sure hurt like a bitch. But then, his pride hurt much more than the wound ever would. Still, he knew that with Kakashi now released, the blonde brat was the least of his concerns. 

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura cheered, seeing their jounin sensei released from his prison. 

Sakura was stunned at what Naruto had done. He managed to release Kakashi and had also wounded Zabuza all by himself. Even Sasuke was shocked and more than a little jealous. The person he had always thought to be an idiot and a weakling had saved him from being hit then released Kakashi alone and wounded the same man that made him almost commit suicide just because of some killing intent. He resolved to train harder to catch up. There was no way he was going to let the dobe show him up again. 

Having had time to recover, Kakashi moved to engage Zabuza. He looked up into Zabuza's eyes with a dangerous glare, still a little angry at being captured.

"Naruto, you plan was impressive! You have really improved!" Kakashi praised, still somewhat stunned by the boy's performance. 

Naruto smirked. "He underestimated me". 

Sasuke had the urge to scoff at him and state that it was only luck. But he knew that it wasn't true. So he stayed silent. 

Kakashi took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Having now calmed himself down from his anger at being captured and shock by Naruto, he gave Zabuza an impassive look. 

"Let me tell you, that technique won't work against me twice. What will you do now?" 

Zabuza did not answer. And a silent pause passed between the two. 

Naruto returned to where the rest of his team was standing, content to let Kakashi handle Zabuza now that he was free. The blonde boy nodded his head at Tazuna telling his teammates to stay on guard. They both nodded and the three reformed the swastika formation around Tazuna, creating a barrier between Tazuna and Zabuza. 

Without warning, Zabuza drew his sword, and Kakashi likewise drew a kunai from his pouch. The two rushed at each other and clashed their weapons. The two find themselves locked in a battle of power, trying to overpower the other. 

After almost half a minute of struggling, the two found themselves to be equal and at the same time, both jumped back putting some distance away from one another. 

Holstering his sword, Zabuza instantly began forming a chain of seals. Kakashi's Sharingan eye widened slightly and the copy ninja began to form his own set of hand seals. 

Both jounins became completely synchronised with their seal making. And at the same time, both jounins formed the bird seal, signifying the last of the chain of seals. 

"Suiton: Suiryudan no jutsu!" both jounins cried out at the same time. 

Two dragons made from water rose out from the lake they were standing on and circled each other in the air fighting for dominance. 

As the two water dragons were clashing, the power from the jutsu created waves in the lake, which rushed towards the genins and Tazuna. The group struggled a bit to maintain their balance as they tried to not to be pushed away by the waves or being pulled back into the lake. 

"He formed that many seals in just a few seconds, and copied them perfectly!" Sasuke watched Kakashi in awe of the power of the Sharingan. 

The two dragons eventually cancelled each other out, causing them both to explode into a mass of water directly over Zabuza and Kakashi. 

When the falling water no longer impeded their vision, team 7 found Kakashi and Zabuza once again locked in a struggle of power, both with their weapons drawn and clashing. Zabuza placed one hand to the back of his sword trying to add more power in his push. But Kakashi did not even budge. 

'Something's weird… What's going on? The Sharingan is supposed to allow the user to memorise and copy an opponent's technique. But how can he execute the jutsu at the same time…' Zabuza thought. 

While the two jounins continued to fight, a figure stood unnoticed in a nearby tree watching the battle from above. 

As if planned, both Kakashi and Zabuza once again put some distance between each other. 

Zabuza placed his sword on his back and the two jounins circled each other warily, trying to find a weakness in the other. 

When Zabuza formed a seal preparing to cast on jutsu, he was shocked to see that Kakashi was perfectly synchronised with himself. 

"He's moving just like him! And with such perfect timing!" Tazuna commented from the sidelines.

'This guy… My movement is being perfectly…' Zabuza thought. 

"Predicted by him" Kakashi finished his thoughts for him. 

'What? He read what I was going to say in my mind?' Zabuza thought a little freaked out. 

Zabuza finding that his movements were being copied, formed another different seal to test Kakashi's reaction, but was once again copied. 

'Damn it! This guy…' 

"Has such unpleasant eyes, right?" Kakashi interrupted the assassin's thoughts once again angering him even further. 

Zabuza gritted his teeth in frustration at being copied and perfectly predicted. He eventually scoffed. "What you're doing is just copying. Nothing original. You can't beat me you monkey!"

"You can't beat me you monkey!" Both ninjas finished with the same words. 

Zabuza angered once again, began forming a fast chain of hand seals. "I'll make it so that you'll never open that copy cat mouth of yours again!"

But before he finished the seals, a figure suddenly appeared next to Kakashi, revealing to be himself… 

'That can't be… Genjutsu?' Zabuza thought to himself in shock. 

"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu!" Kakashi called out. 

Having not yet finished his seals, Zabuza cried out in shock. "What!"

A massive tornado of water rushed at Zabuza, pushing him under water, spiralling backwards. 

'I was the one who tried to execute the technique, but I couldn't keep up with him!' Zabuza thought while struggling to resurface from underwater, each time getting pulled back underwater by the jutsu before he could get out of the water to get a breath of air. 

Zabuza screamed in pain as he was sent crashing through several trees before collapsing against another tree, the water washing away. 

Several kunai then flew at Zabuza hitting each of his limbs, making sure he could not run away. Zabuza roared in pain, before leaning against the tree behind him, breathing heavily. 

"This is the end" Kakashi said to him from above on a tree branch. 

Zabuza looked up tiredly at Kakashi. "How? Can you see the future?"

"Yeah… You're going to die" Kakashi told him with a kunai in his hand, ready to end the Kiri nin's life. 

But just as the copy ninja was going to launch his weapon, two senbon needles flew through the air and embedded itself into Zabuza's neck. 

Kakashi's widened in surprised and quickly turned in the direction the senbon originated from. A masked figure stood on a tree branch in a nearby tree. 

Zabuza collapsed to the ground. 

The masked figure chuckled lightly and spoke in a cold tone. "It's true. He did die".

Kakashi jumped off the tree and crouched down next to Zabuza's body. The jounin lifted his fingers to the neck to check the Kiri nukenin's pulse. Finding none, he confirmed the nin's death. 

"He really is dead…" Kakashi mumbled to himself before turning his attention to the new arrival. 

The masked person half bowed to him. "Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza".

"That mask… If I remember correctly, you must be a hunter-nin from Kirigakure" Kakashi questioned.

The masked person lifted his head from the bow. "You are very well informed. Yes, I am a member of the ninja unit that hunt missing nin".

'From his height and voice, he must not be far from Naruto and the other's age. Yet, he's a hunter-nin. He's no ordinary kid.' Kakashi eyes the hunter-nin warily. 

Naruto watched the hunter-nin with narrowed eyes. He had doubts whether Zabuza really was dead. He had been studying the anatomy and pressure points for a few months now. The spot the senbon hit shouldn't have killed Zabuza. The nin hit an inch or so off from a vital point. It was possible that the hunter-nin was fake, and was Zabuza's accomplice. But Naruto stayed silent. His instincts tell him that this person, although young was easily as strong as Zabuza. Even if he was right, it was best if they could avoid another fight for now. 

Seeing no hostility from the hunter-nin, Kakashi moved slowly towards his team while keeping an eye on the new arrival. 

The hunter-nin shunshined to Zabuza's body and picked it up over his shoulder. 

"I must go dispose of this corpse. If you'll excuse me…" 

And with that, the hunter-nin and Zabuza's body disappeared. 

Kakashi sighed a breath in relief that the newly arrived Kiri hunter-nin was not hostile and covered his Sharingan eye once again with his hitai-ate. 

Turning to his team, Kakashi commanded the genins that they were to continue the mission. 

"Our mission hasn't ended yet. We need to take Tazuna-san back to his house".

The team nodded in understanding. 

"Sorry about that everyone. Just rest at my house" Tazuna offered cheerfully, relieved at having survived another situation where he could've been killed.

"Alright! Lets go" Kakashi ordered, eager to get to their destination so they could rest. 

Just as he said that, the man collapsed. 

* * *

**AN:** The fights were basically the same as canon, but with subtle changes. These changes will eventually have an effect on the characters. Particularly Sakura looking at Naruto differently, as well as a change in the rivalry between Naruto and Sasuke. 

Some of you might be thinking that Naruto was overly strong, to be able to handle Zabuza like that. I think differently. In canon, Sasuke defeated multiple water clones after training in tree climbing. Naruto could easily defeat 1mizu bunshin at this stage having progress further than Sasuke had in canon. And the real Zabuza had a disadvantage being unable to move away from the water prison. Also, he underestimated Naruto. Naruto won't stand a chance if not for these conditions. And with Zabuza too surprised and occupied with the fuuma shuriken that transformed into Naruto, Naruto could surprise attack Zabuza from another direction if he was fast enough. That's where the shunshin no jutsu comes in. Being wounded will distract Zabuza slightly and gives Naruto enough time to form the Goukakyu. 

I've put a drawing I did for how Naruto looks like as my profile image for those that thought the colours were a bit weird. It's really small and had half of it cut of, but you'll be able to see roughly how the colour scheme goes. 

And since people have been bugging me not to reply to individual reviews, I'll just answer in one go for all the people with the same general questions and reply specifically only to those that have tricky questions. 

I agree with most of you that the romance might be going a bit fast. But there won't be much of Kure/Naru interaction for a while though. Meh, I prefer to do fighting scenes anyways. I tried to imply that Kurenai finds Naruto to be a great guy, but there are too many things holding her back, mostly his age and Hinata. But it probably turned out seeming like Kurenai felt more for Naruto than I intended. 

And sorry, no Naru/harem. Unless one-sided relationship counts. The girls being interested in Naruto is to build Kurenai's relationship with Naruto. In any case, nothing will happen for the main pairing until after time skip (IF I decide to do the training trip). Ayame won't play a big role aside for the occasional humour. And Anko is more like a sister to Naruto. Also, some of you mentioned that I repeated things in the last chapter. That is intended. It emphasises the ideas. Not sure if that was a good idea or not, since that's more a writing style for writing reports and essays, not a story. 

To Kingkakashi: 

I'll keep the guy you recommended in mind. 

To kd8gun: 

Thanks. 

To pauloj1983: 

The idea for this fic actually came from an idea for a crack Naru/older harem fic, where Ino and Sakura tells Naruto he is bad boyfriend material, and he ends up with Anko, Kurenai, Yuugao, Shizune, Hana and Ayame. But I couldn't think of a plot. 

To kijin666: 

The finger is more fragile than the fist so it's easier to injure yourself. Increasing the power in a finger strike increases chance of injury. So it's weaker than a punch in terms of power. And you can still strike pressure points to a degree with the fist using the knuckles, although not quite as accurate as with a finger. A punch to the windpipe will be just as dangerous. 

To I: 

I think different, there should be information on jutsu for even the weakest of ninja to study so they could counter enemy attacks. And the archives would be quite safe from spies using fuinjutsu. That's why Naruto needed permission from the Hokage. Also, kage bunshin is a B ranked jutsu, only the tajuu kage bunshin (mass shadow clone) variant is forbidden. The goukakyu is a c ranked jutsu. That's higher genin to chunin level. Also, three-meter wide crater is pretty small considering the effects of Tsunade and Sakura's punches. Maybe I should have indicated how deep the crater goes. That'll be clearer. And Kurenai supposedly taught at the academy before being promoted to jounin. Its canon, I didn't make that up. 

To TheDon1023: 

I have seen the movie but forgot everything. That technique and fuinjutsu is a bit too at this point. Maybe he'll have something similar after time skip. Naruto won't be learning kenjutsu from Hayate, but his death will be slightly different to canon. 


	5. Chapter 5: Battle

CHAPTER 5: BATTLE

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Naruto yawned tiredly, as he rubbed the moisture from his eyes. He was really starting to curse his own stupidity. 

It was because of his big mouth and need to show off that landed him the duty of guarding Tazuna while the man worked. Here he was, sitting at the side of the completed portion of the bridge, getting bored out of his mind and desperately trying to stay awake. 

For someone like him, that lived and breathed excitement, he felt like he was going to die from sheer boredom if he didn't find something to do sometime soon. 

It had all started when Kakashi had awoken from forced slumber due to a severe case of chakra exhaustion. The jounin immediately afterwards, called for a team meeting to discuss their plans concerning the continuation of their mission. 

During which, Kakashi had also confirmed his own suspicions that the hunter-nin was possibly a fake. With Kakashi also thinking along the same lines, Naruto was almost sure that the masked ninja was most definitely Zabuza's accomplice. 

The jounin also pointed out the obvious. Which was the fact that they were not yet ready for another confrontation with Zabuza, a confrontation that now looked to be inevitable. Especially with the possibility of the faux hunter-nin being on Zabuza's side. 

To prepare them for the impending battle, Kakashi had prepared a training exercise for them. 

The mention of the tree climbing exercise quickly sent Naruto pouting in disappointment. He had been awfully excited to learn something new, but tree climbing was something he had already mastered some time ago. 

Though if you asked the blonde himself, he would say it was well worth it, to not learn anything just to see the look on Sasuke's face when he revealed to the rest of the team that he had already mastered the tree climbing training. 

He regretted not having a camera on hand, when Sakura likewise shown that she had superior chakra control as compared to their raven-haired teammate and managed to get the exercise down after a few tries. The expression on Sasuke's face at that moment was absolutely priceless. 

Even though the brooding boy tried his best to hide it, he could not fully hide the awkward twitching in his eyes. As Sasuke was a very prideful person in nature, the boy could not accept very well, the fact that he was surpassed so obviously by people he always though of as a fangirl and a dead last that would hold him back. 

Just one look at the sour expression on the raven-haired boy's face would send Naruto to the floor laughing. 

And for a while, there wasn't a lack of entertainment, as trying to rile up Sasuke by sending him the occasional smug grins had been greatly amusing. The angry glares he gotten return only made it all the more funny. It wasn't everyday that you see the so-called genius of their graduation class jealous over being outdone by the supposed dead last in one simple training exercise. Especially when that jealousy was greatly affecting the boy's focus on the training, making him progress slower than what should've been, frustrating the boy even further. 

Naruto thought for a while whether he should take mercy on Sasuke and give the boy some advice, but decided at the end, not to. There was no way he would end his chance to gloat in Sasuke's face so soon, after years of being called dead last. Not to mention Sasuke as prideful as he was would hate to receive advice from him of all people. Though it would've been different if the advice had been from another genius, someone like Kakashi. 

But now, he was truly starting to regret showing off. His time mocking Sasuke had been the only highlight of skipping the tree climbing training. Kakashi had been unwilling to teach him anything else, as he had not yet recovered enough from chakra exhaustion, opting to not risk worsening his current condition. 

As they had completed the training, both he and Sakura were delegated to the duty of guarding Tazuna while he worked at the bridge. And watching Tazuna's construction work was as boring as watching ants crawl.

It was ironic that considering after all the smug grins he had sent Sasuke, that he ended up envious of Sasuke who was spending his time hard at work learning how to climb trees with his feet. 

Of course, having Sakura for company wasn't too bad, as talking with one another had alleviated the boredom for a while, lasting for an hour or two. But they slowly drifted into awkward silence as they had run out of things to talk about. 

The spiky haired boy never really noticed it before during the times that he had been fixated on the girl. But the two of them did not have much in common. 

Sakura was more concerned with her social status and looks more than being a ninja, being much more focused in her desire to win Sasuke. As such, much of her interests stem from this desire. She was the typical fangirl. 

Naruto on the other hand, despite being a self-proclaimed fanboy of ramen, was more concerned with his dream to become Hokage, and becoming stronger. 

There simply weren't many topics that mutually interested the both of them. 

And Naruto being a person that loved excitement, found their mutual silence to be somewhat uncomfortable. 

But being lazy and taking a nap was out of the question. Even he knew slacking off on a guard mission wasn't exactly a brilliant idea. Not to mention Sakura would probably hit him in the head for making her do all the work. And he sure ain't giving the girl any excuse to do so. Her punches bloody hurt.

Naruto finally decided that he should find a way to further his training while he guard Tazuna. 

There was no way that he would do nothing, while Sasuke was getting stronger. Even though he had given up on Sakura, it did not mean he had completely given up on his rivalry with Sasuke. 

Right now, taijutsu and all physical exercises are out of the question. No matter how unlike it was that the possibility of needing to protect Tazuna would arise at the moment, tiring oneself from training while he was supposed to be on duty was a bad idea. And he wasn't dumb enough to believe otherwise. 

Plus, he had left his weights at home and his physical exercises will not be quite as productive as he would've liked anyways. 

There was the same problem with ninjutsu, as Naruto thought he should conserve chakra while protecting Tazuna in case anything extraordinary happens and will need him to be able to fight. Despite having a large store of chakra, he still knew his own limits. 

Naruto eventually gave himself a mental pat on the back as he congratulated himself for his recent focus in genjutsu. 

The art of genjutsu revolves mostly around the mental aspects of being a shinobi, and training in this area will not tire him out anywhere near as quickly as ninjutsu training would. It was perfect training for his current situation. 

The spiky haired blonde was confident he had learned enough of the theory from Kurenai to start experimenting on his own. He hated following conventions, and would always rather find new ways to use jutsu or even better, to create his own variations. It simply made him much less predictable, which was a integral part of his own unique style of fighting. 

Naruto decided now would be a good chance as any, to work on his genjutsu skills. He had always focused much more on ninjutsu, as his tastes lie towards powerful, destructive and somewhat flashy jutsu. And thus, his repertoire of genjutsu was very limited at the moment, and consisting only of low-level genjutsu. 

Even now, after training with one of the best genjutsu users in Konoha, his genjutsu was practically useless against an experienced opponent. Naruto was well aware of the fact that he needed to further improve in this area before he could even think about using genjutsu in ninja battle. Sure, he was easily capable of taking down bandits or most lower genin level ninja with genjutsu, but higher-level ninja battles are a completely different story. 

But then again, much of the low level jutsus Kurenai had taught him didn't really suit his style as well as he would've liked. Most low-level genjutsu dealt with deceiving human sight and therefore are more suited for reconnaissance and stealth, which goes to show why Kurenai, a genjutsu specialist had been chosen to become the jounin team leader of team 8, a recon specialist team. 

And while the demon container understood that these low-level genjutsu skills were useful in many cases, it wasn't quite as useful for direct close combat situations, which he preferred. And in the case of his current mission, using stealth skills would be more harmful than helpful against someone like Zabuza who specialised in stealthy kills. It would be like trying to outswim a shark when you can't swim. It is simply foolish to fight an enemy in their own element. And Naruto knew not to make that kind of mistake. 

He needed a more combat oriented genjutsu spell. Something like the B-ranked Magen: Jubaku Satsu that Kurenai liked to use and had demonstrated several times during their training. He needed something that could restrict an opponent's movements, in order for him to literally pound the living crap out of them. 

Unfortunately, Naruto realised that most genjutsu of that type was of a higher level than he was currently at in the field. 

Naruto resolved that the best he could do at the moment was to alter some of the lower level stuff he had learned to better suit his needs. 

Though supposedly, it should be easier to modify genjutsu than ninjutsu, as the art of genjutsu is less defined and vague unlike ninjutsu and taijutsu, which followed definite patterns. 

This was of course, only theoretically…

Realistically, modifying genjutsu would not be so easy for someone like him. 

Even though he was smarter than most people gave him credit for, he was not the natural genius type like Sakura and Sasuke. And the art of genjutsu was naturally easier for those with higher intelligence. 

Not to mention genjutsu required patience and subtlety, things that Naruto lacked quite severely. It was quite sad really, considering how proud he was of being an actual ninja, when the definition of the term 'ninja' pertains to a person with exceptional patience. 

Sure, he had improved leaps and bounds in that area, but he was often tempted to just overwhelm enemies with powerful ninjutsu techniques or beating the crap out of them with awesome taijutsu moves. That was precisely the reason why training with Kurenai had been such a good idea. 

In fact, his improvement in patience and subtlety could be seen in his handling of the situation after Kakashi had been captured by Zabuza. Without the genjutsu training, he might have been foolish enough to try to overpower Zabuza with a large amount of clones or something equally stupid. 

And he lacked experience, and not only in the use of genjutsu. 

The creation of higher-level genjutsu often requires a high level of empathy. In other words, it would be easier to recreate a feeling through illusions when the user had experienced that type of feeling, emotion or sensory experience before, as they would be much more aware of the specifics in affecting the opponent's mind and body to recreate the effect. Naruto believed that it was partially what Kurenai had meant by 'experience being able to compensate for natural talent'. 

Of all the possibilities in creating his own genjutsu, a genjutsu that could cause pain directly was very effective. Sadly, that was currently out of Naruto's league. With his limited field experience as a ninja, being a rookie genin, he had not yet experience the pain of being beaten, stabbed or tortured. Not that he wanted to be beaten and tortured, mind you. He lacked that type of experience as well as the knowledge in the art of genjutsu to be capable of such. 

And while he had experience enough psychological torment to last a lifetime, he was reluctant to even venture into the notion of mentally torturing enemies as it could cause permanent insanity. Sure, this area had a lot of potential. In fact many genjutsu users would say that this type of genjutsu is arguably the highest pinnacle in the art of genjutsu. 

While it went against his morals to use something like this even on an enemy, Naruto did not fully discount the possibility that he would one day have to use it. But for now, with more than a little relief, he was not even close to being capable of something of that level. 

In the end, the only somewhat plausible idea he had involved creating the feeling of wearing weights using genjutsu. It was something Naruto was intimately familiar with. And the more Naruto thought about it, the more merit he found in the idea. 

While the loads he used for his training wasn't overly heavy, the pressure placed on the body could be very intense and perhaps even unbearable to some. And if he could somehow recreate that feeling but several times the amount of pressure, he could possibly render an opponent unable or struggling to move for at least a few seconds. More than enough time for him to quickly end a fight. The result would be similar to using Magen: Jubaku Satsu to immobilise someone, except not quite as complex. 

And the good part was that for Naruto, this idea wasn't completely out of his scope, as it did not require any manipulation of most of the human senses, including smell, taste, hearing and sight. And the effects on the body are quite minor and oddly for him, quite subtle compared to other genjutsu that produced a similar effect. It was certainly feasible for the blonde by combining and evolving several genjutsu he had already learned. 

Though for him to fully complete the jutsu, it would possibly require some additional medical research into how the body reacts under immense pressure and the chemicals released by the body on that kind of situation. 

Finally stopping his reflection in his genjutsu studies, Naruto looked upward to the sky to gauge the time. The sun momentarily blinded him, and he raised a hand to block the sun. There were barely any clouds in the sky, and the sun was still high up, letting Naruto know that it was still early in the afternoon. There was at least a few more hours before it would begin to get dark, and Tazuna would retire from construction work for the day. 

Naruto stretched his arms out a little in front of him to get the kinks out of his joints. There was no point wasting time sitting around if there was something he could do to pass time. He might as well spend the time working on a possible new technique and his genjutsu skills. 

This way, he could ensure that he would not fall behind Sasuke. 

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It was morning once more, and Naruto looked up at the cloudy sky with slight unease. The greyness of the thick clouds that now blanketed the skies seemed to carry a foreboding feeling, something that he had felt ever since the previous evening when he had watched the clouds gather. 

He had felt somewhat edgy throughout the entire night as he suspected that Zabuza should have recovered from their last encounter by now. And the thought that the man could possibly try to assassinate Tazuna and the rest of them in their sleep kept him wide-awake for most of the night. 

It had only been a case of paranoia on his part, but Naruto was glad for it. Though he didn't feel as rested as he would've liked. 

But the foreboding feeling did not disappear, if anything, it had gotten worse now that it was morning. Naruto suspected that Kakashi was equally on edge, although the jounin did not show any signs of being worried. But then, he was still green compared to Kakashi who could easily handle that kind of anxiety, having grown up during war times. 

Prompted by his uneasiness, the blonde lingered slightly at the back of the group, and left a clone of himself unnoticed behind at their client's residence in order to protect Tsunami and Inari. As much as he disliked the brat's attitude, he did not wish ill upon them, and would gladly protect them from danger. And it would ease his worry a tiny bit more as his clone would protect them, while the team was at the bridge for the rest of the day. 

As they travelled to the bridge, Naruto took a look out the corner of his eyes at the expressions of his teammates. They all seemed to be equally on edge. Even Sakura seemed to have developed an unusually sombre expression on her face. 

It was most likely that his teammates had also come to the same conclusion he had made. That Zabuza was bound to attack sometime soon. 

It had been an entire week since they had first arrived in wave country. And that was an entire week of time that Zabuza had to recuperate from his defeat. 

The rest of their walk to the bridge was made in complete silence, each person being too focused in their lookout for trouble to make any sort of conversation. Their eyes were always alert and on constant surveillance. 

Their fears were founded as the sight of several civilian construction workers laying on the ground unconscious, greeted them when they arrived. There was no indication whether they are dead or still alive. 

The team frantically searched left and right for the one responsible. 

Suddenly, a familiar thick mist began to surround them, putting the group even further on edge. There was no longer any doubt in their mind. Zabuza had been the one responsible for this. 

Kakashi quickly barked out an order and the four ninjas collectively formed a protective ring position around Tazuna. In unison, all of them reached a hand to their equipment pouch and each drew a kunai, preparing to defend themselves and Tazuna. 

The tension in the air was thick, and the atmosphere was making it hard for Sakura and Tazuna to breath. Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi on the other hand did not seem to be affected at all. 

Team 7 found their field of vision decreasing within the mist, eventually decreasing to a little over ten feet in front of them. 

"Sorry to keep you waiting Kakashi… And you're still with those kids" a rough voice reverberated in the air, from beyond their vision. 

At the sound of the assassin's intimidating voice, Sasuke's body began to shake. 

"He's shaking in fear again. How pitiful", Zabuza mocked from his hidden position from within the mist. 

Sasuke's eyes suddenly widened as movement suddenly triggered his senses, letting him know that Zabuza had now surrounded them with clones. Sasuke smirked a little inwardly. There was no doubt to the effectiveness of the tree climbing training, as the raven-haired boy realised that unlike last time, he was easily able to sense the clone's movements. 

"I'm shaking with excitement", Sasuke retorted arrogantly, eager to redeem himself for his humiliation at Zabuza's hands in their last encounter, and equally eager to fight a powerful opponent to prove and test his strength. 

"Go for it, Sasuke" 

Kakashi permitted, approving of Sasuke's desire to fight, confident that the raven-haired boy could hold his own. The jounin knew that fighting water clones that have a tenth of the strength of the original wouldn't be much of a problem for Sasuke after the training he went through. 

Without warning, the clones attacked. But Sasuke had already moved. In a blink of an eye, 7 water clones that had once surrounded them burst into water, destroyed easily with a casual swipe of his kunai. 

Sasuke grinned smugly at his accomplishment as he once more stood beside Kakashi. Whereas before, he was easily defeated by a single water clone, he could now easily fight multiple water clones simultaneously. And it was all because of the recent training to climb trees. His speed had improved a great deal. 

Zabuza stepped up closer into the open, finally letting the team see him through the limited visibility due to the mist. This time, the same fake hunter-nin that had tricked them stood beside him. 

"Oh? He defeated the water clones. That kid got stronger. It seems you have a rival, Haku" Zabuza said a little surprised at the boy's improvement in such a short time. 

Naruto grinned as he silently observed Sasuke destroy the clones. He was also a little impressed by Sasuke's improvement. His teammate had definitely gotten a lot better.

"I'll fight the masked guy" Sasuke quickly volunteered. He had seen a glimpse of his improvement and now felt confident in his ability to be able to defeat the masked ninja. 

"What?" Sakura asked surprised. 

"He pulled that act on us. I hate conceited guys like that", Sasuke answered, making Naruto roll his eyes at the hypocrisy of that statement. 

Without warning, Haku suddenly moved and his body became a blur. 

But obviously, Sasuke was clearly able to see his movements. The dark haired genin quickly lifted his kunai in front of him, tensing the muscles in his arm and bracing himself to block Haku's strike. 

The sound of metal against metal could be heard, as Sasuke's kunai met Haku's senbon. After the initial impact, the two fighters began pushing their choice of weapon against the other trying their hardest to overpower the other. Though they did not overexert themselves in fear of losing their balance in their stance. 

"I don't want to kill you, but it seems you won't be backing down, right?" Haku questioned.

"What are you, stupid?" Sasuke mocked with a smirk on his face. He had no desire at all to back down now that he was confident of his skills. 

"As I thought. But you won't be able to keep up with my next move" Haku claimed with a voice full of confidence and calmness. "I'm already two steps ahead of you…"

"Two steps ahead?" Sasuke's eyes narrowed, slightly taken aback by the boast of his opponent. 

"The first, is the water on the ground. And the second, is that I'm keeping one of your arms busy. Therefore… you can only take or block my attack" Haku explained. 

Then, the masked nin formed a seal with his free hand, showing exactly what he had meant in his explanation. 

Sasuke's face contorted into a frown, as he gritted his teeth in shock. 'What? He's creating seals with one hand?'

On the sidelines, the rest of team 7 also watched in shock at the sight of something they had never even heard of. 

Seeing the display of skill and jutsu mastery, only one thought passed through Naruto's head. 'One-handed seals? I have to learn that!'

It only took less than two seconds for Haku to complete the chain of seals with his unoccupied hand, and he muttered lightly under his breath. 

"Hijutsu: Sensatsu suisho".

Having completed the process of moulding chakra, Haku stomped lightly on the puddle of water on the grounds, the remnants of Zabuza's water clones, channelling chakra through his feet into the puddle, causing the water to float up into the air and forming a ring of water surrounding Sasuke. 

Within a blink of an eye's time, the water solidified into numerous senbon, which shot rapidly towards Sasuke from every direction the moment they were formed. 

Even in danger, Sasuke did not panic. Instead, he was able to react quickly having already prepared himself for the worst, and formed a seal with his free hand to help him concentrate on moulding and concentrating chakra to his feet. 

The memory of the tree climbing training flashed through his mind, as he recalled the consequence of pushing large amounts of chakra into a single spot beneath his feet. In his memory, he had blasted cleanly away from the tree rather than stick to it. 

By applying the same principle, Sasuke formed as much chakra as he could to the bottom of his feet. Bending his knees slightly, the raven-haired boy launched himself upwards through the ring of senbon. 

The senbon exploded into water on the moment of impact. The impact was strong enough to slightly damage the concrete ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust, temporarily obstructing Haku's eyes for a brief moment. 

Before the needles hit the target, the faux hunter-nin had already jumped backwards away from the water senbon so as not to be caught in his own attack. By the time the water had settled and the dust dispersed, Sasuke had disappeared from Haku's sight. 

But Haku could not be caught off guard that easily and quickly located Sasuke. He realised that the Uchiha had jumped high into the air to escape the technique. And from the light whistling sounds he could hear, he became aware that there were projectiles heading his way originating from above. 

Haku jumped back as he dodged several consecutive shuriken thrown by Sasuke from the air. But the use of the projectile weapons had only been a decoy, which Sasuke used to force a opening in Haku's defence. 

By the time Haku could catch a quick breath from having dodged the shuriken, Sasuke had moved behind him with a burst of speed. 

"You're pretty slow" Sasuke mocked from behind Haku. 

Haku swiftly moved out of the way before Sasuke could take him out from behind. Turning and spinning with the momentum of his movement, Haku blocked his opponent's swing with a kunai that aimed at his torso, by frantically grabbing onto Sasuke's arm with both hands. 

But this time, it was Sasuke's turn to be a step ahead of him, having already anticipated this reaction and had hidden a kunai in his remaining free hand behind his back. With a flick of his wrist, he launched the hidden kunai at Zabuza's accomplice. 

Haku ducked under the blade flying at his head, creating an opening just like Sasuke had wanted. 

Cocking his leg backwards, Sasuke kicked Haku in the face hard. The said ninja was sent flying back several metres from the force of the kick, falling onto his back and sliding backwards along the ground another meter due to the momentum. 

"Haku lost in speed?" Zabuza mumbled to himself, his eyes opened wide in disbelief. 

Naruto grinned slightly seeing that his teammate seemed to be doing quite well against his opponent. Watching the battle made his blood boil in excitement. 

'Sasuke's speed had increased a lot thanks to the tree climbing exercise. But…' 

But the blonde genin knew that despite Sasuke's improved chakra control and therefore improved ability to enhance his muscles, Sasuke's natural speed had not improved much in the short time. And Naruto had a feeling that the masked ninja was still holding back. He could only hope that Sasuke's improvements are enough for him to win the fight. 

Naruto began preparing himself for the worse, to save Sasuke in the worse case scenario that the masked ninja had something up his sleeve that Sasuke could not handle. He was well aware of the fact that Kakashi would be too preoccupied with holding Zabuza back from killing their client, that he would not be able to help Sasuke. And Sakura was too weak in combat situations to rely on for help. That left himself as the only one that could help his dark haired teammate if the Uchiha boy finds himself in trouble. 

Zabuza eventually began to chuckle lightly seemingly unconcerned of the fact that his partner had been defeated in the last exchange. 

"Haku, do you understand that you'll be defeated like this?"

Haku grunted a reply annoyed, as he lifted himself from the ground slowly, but seemingly undamaged by the kick. Focusing his eyes once again on Sasuke, the masked boy gradually released chakra into the air from his entire body.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion as he could feel the air around him start to get colder, causing goose bumps to form on his skin. 

'What is that? Cold air?'

Forming a seal with his hands to channel his chakra, Haku concentrated the cold aura he leaked into the air from his body and the moisture in the air together, combining to form ice. 

The entire formation of his jutsu only took mere seconds. But the result was enough to cause Sasuke's eyes to widen, as numerous thick panes of ice now surrounded him. 

'Ice mirrors?' 

"Hijutsu: Makyo Hyosho" Haku named. 

Having already lost the initiative, Sasuke could only concentrate himself on countering his opponent's technique. 

The Konoha genin watched intently as the fake mist hunter-nin stepped up to the closest ice mirror and stepped into it, his body blending into it almost like he was stepping into liquid. 

Recognising the danger the mirrors posed to his student, Kakashi took a step forward in Sasuke's direction, planning to help Sasuke. But Zabuza was quick to intervene, so Haku could quickly defeat Sasuke without any interruptions. 

"I'm your opponent remember, Kakashi. That kid stands no chance now that Haku is using that technique." Zabuza claimed having complete confidence in his partner. 

Having finished his preparations for his attack, Haku was ready to attack. 

"Let's begin. I'll show you my true speed." Haku told Sasuke. 

Faster than Sasuke could see, Haku attacked. 

A jolt of pain through his arm let the black haired genin know he had been hit. Sasuke looked down only to see a small cut on his limb from where a senbon scratched him. The wound was small and barely any blood seeped from the cut. 

But before Sasuke could contemplate why the ninja held back, Haku began throwing senbon after senbon at him from every direction. 

Sasuke cried out in pain as another senbon hit him in the arm. His entire arm became numbed with pain, causing the boy's grip on his kunai to loosen, dropping it. 

Biting down hard, he tried to suppress the pain so he could concentrate and find a way to fight Haku. But as it was, there was nothing he could do in this situation. He couldn't even see Haku, and therefore have no way of seeing where the senbon were coming from, making it impossible for him to dodge or block. 

Following his self-preservation instincts, he did the only thing he could think of. And that was to crouch down low and curl up his body slightly to make himself a smaller target, while shielding his head and face as best as he could with his arms to protect his vital areas. 

Despite having covered most of his vital areas, Sasuke continued to get hit, causing the boy to scream in pain as several needles dug deeply into his back. 

Team 7 and Tazuna watched on in horror, as Sasuke was being overwhelmed and being decimated by the fake hunter-nin. 

Kakashi grounded his teeth together in frustration. His mind was in conflict, unable to decide whether he should help Sasuke or not. 

"If you move without thinking, I'll kill the three behind you." Zabuza threatened, making Kakashi freeze to the spot, reminding the Konoha jounin of his mission to protect Tazuna. 

If he went to help Sasuke, Tazuna would surely die. 

Naruto's face contorted in a frown. With Kakashi preoccupied with Zabuza, it was now up to him to save Sasuke. And he needed to do it quickly before Sasuke gets killed. He felt incredibly nervous, yet excited that he would now have to enter the battle. 

"Sakura, protect Tazuna" Naruto commanded, making his intentions obvious to his pink haired teammate. 

Sakura could only nod an affirmative, deciding to place her trust in Naruto's abilities. The pink haired kunoichi knew that with her current level of skill, she would be of little help in saving Sasuke. At worse case, she could even get in the way. 

Drawing a kunai from his pouch, Naruto moved swiftly in the direction of the ice mirrors. 

Before he reached the mirrors, Naruto jumped into the air and cocked his elbow back, launching the kunai he held towards Sasuke, so the boy may use it to defend himself. 

But the masked ninja intercepted his blade like he had expected. Not seeming discouraged at all Naruto actually smirked instead. This had been his plan all along. By catching his kunai, the hunter-nin had momentarily stopped his rapid movements between mirrors for him to see him clearly. 

Before Haku could even turn to look at Naruto, a shuriken was already in the air, flying at him. Naruto quickly executed his next technique. 

'Shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu!'

One shuriken turned into ten as the weapons, each spreading out and spinning rapidly through the air towards their intended target. 

A little surprised, having not expected the attack, Haku dived towards another mirror hastily to dodge but was slow to react, causing his leg to be grazed lightly by one of the shuriken. 

The cut could hardly be even called a wound. It was nothing more than a light scratch, comparable to a light paper cut. Though ultimately, it was enough to distract the masked nin to make him stumble in his movement slightly. 

And before Zabuza's partner realised it, he had already copped a hard punch to the face. 

Naruto had obviously taken advantage of his small pause. 

While Haku was still slightly disoriented from the punch, Naruto quickly grabbed Sasuke and escaped from within the mirrors. 

Even Naruto knew that staying inside the mirrors would be foolhardy and especially disadvantageous for them. With them out of the mirrors, he had essentially bought some time for his teammate to recover. 

"You alright Sasuke?" Naruto asked. 

"Hn" Sasuke grunted out in reply. 

To be truthful, the raven-haired ninja was very grateful that his blonde teammate had saved him. But he was way too prideful to thank him outright. 

Ignoring Naruto for the moment, Sasuke used the time his enemy was disoriented to remove the senbon lodged in his body. 

He winced as a new wave of pain invaded his body, as he reached his arms behind him to reach the senbon lodged in his back, as back muscles tensed from his reaching behind him, drawing the senbon deeper. Eventually he was able to yank them out roughly causing him to wince in pain. 

Meanwhile, Naruto's eyes twitched at his teammate's show of gratefulness, or rather the lack of it. This was the thanks he gets for saving his ass? 

But Naruto quickly focused his eyes back on their enemy, as it was no time for something so trivial. 

There were more important things to worry about, like their masked opponent that was now facing them, having recovered from the punch. The masked ninja had now dispersed the ice mirrors seeing that Sasuke had escaped the technique. 

Naruto watched the enemy ninja like a hawk, while whispering a warning to Sasuke. 

"We can't let him form the mirrors again" Naruto warned Sasuke, who nodded in agreement as he had already experienced the power of that technique first hand. And know not it was best not to get caught up in it again. 

Naruto's eyes narrowed as Haku lifted his hands in front of him to form a seal. The blonde immediately moved to attack to stop the masked ninja's attempt to reform the mirrors. The best way to so, was to keep the masked ninja from making hand seals by keeping him busy. 

And that was what Naruto planned to do. 

To Sasuke, the blonde was a blur, as the prideful Uchiha found himself barely able to keep up with Naruto's speed. 

'Fast!' Sasuke thought slightly shocked, as another dent was put in his pride by his dead last teammate once again.

Haku was quick to dodge Naruto first several punches, but could not dodge the following kick to the gut. Grunting from having the air forced out of his lungs, Haku flew backwards into the ground. 

Not giving the masked ninja a chance to recover, Naruto pressed the attack while his enemy was down on the ground. The blonde sprung himself into the air, before using the gravity and his weight to enhance the power in his kick down at Haku who was sprawled out on the ground on his back. 

Frantically rolling to the side to dodge, Haku barely escaped the kick that had been aimed at his head. The concrete cracked slightly from the force of the kick where Naruto landed the kick. 

Haku breathed heavily from the intensity of the blonde's attack, as he rolled onto his feet with the momentum, while simultaneously drawing several senbon from a pouch hidden under his sleeve. 

He launched the senbon at Naruto, but the spiky haired blonde was no longer there. 

Haku's eyes widened as Naruto was suddenly in front of him. By pure reflex, he barely managed to back flip away over a leg sweep, but was caught once again by a follow up palm strike to the stomach. 

Haku coughed out some blood, but remained standing, only sliding back several feet from the force of the hit. Ignoring the pain, Haku quickly analysed the blonde's skill. The spiky haired boy's taijutsu was good even though a bit less refined as his previous opponent. Though what he lacked in grace, he made up for it with plenty of power. And speed…

In any case, it was certainly better than his own measly skills at taijutsu, as he was more of a mid to long range fighter. Not to mention that every time he tried to block Naruto's attacks his arms would go numb. It wasn't enough to disable his limbs, but good enough to weaken his limbs for a few seconds. 

It was obvious that like him, the blonde had some knowledge of the human anatomy and pressure points. But where he used senbon to hit the points from a distance, the blonde genin incorporated his knowledge into his taijutsu. 

He was lucky that the spiky haired blonde seemed to be relatively new to this taijutsu style, as even though his pressure point striking accuracy was quite good, he was unable to make anything more than a few glancing blows due to his inexperience, which showed through clearly. The blonde often had to compensate at times with using a taijutsu fighting style common in the ninja world. 

And it showed clearly that the blonde had not yet fully mastered the ability to seamlessly blend both styles of taijutsu together. 

But much of the blonde's deficiencies stem from the fact that he lacked combat experience. Haku was well aware that the longer they fought, the better the blonde became. He could practically feel the blonde's improvements. 

Realising that close range combat was disadvantageous for him, Haku did his best to keep some distance from the blonde ninja. 

But Naruto was unrelenting in his attacking, never giving him any moments rest. Every time Haku put some distance between them, Naruto would close it with his superior speed. 

Haku found himself forced to jump into the air as Naruto tried to sweep his legs from under him. Extending his leg, the masked nin used the momentum of his jump to counter with a kick at Naruto's chin. 

Naruto merely leaned his head to the side before using another palm strike which sent Haku straight at Sasuke. 

Not wanting Naruto to steal the spotlight, Sasuke took that as his cue to rejoin the fight. 

On the sidelines, Kakashi felt somewhat relieved. With Zabuza blocking the way, he was unable to help Sasuke. Even if he went around Zabuza to help, the former kiri ninja would attack Tazuna while he was helping Sasuke. And since his mission was to protect Tazuna, abandoning Tazuna was unacceptable. Luckily, Naruto managed to solve his dilemma. 

Through the mist, he could only see glimpses of the ongoing fight with his two male genins. He was surprised at how well they were able to handle themselves, Naruto in particular. He was well aware of the fact that Naruto had improved a lot ever since the formation of team 7. But he had never expected this much growth in such a short time. Though for him, it was hard to tell through the thick mist, Naruto's speed seemed to be even faster than Sasuke. 

With the both of them fighting the masked ninja, Kakashi was confident that they could hold their own as long as they did not allow the fake hunter-nin to reform those ice mirrors. And the boys seemed to have come to the same conclusion judging by the intensity of their combined attack. 

Having some of his worries lifted, Kakashi put his entire focus back onto the man in front of him. With Kakashi finally having regained his resolve, he was ready to fight. 

As the white haired jounin and Zabuza looked ready to finally begin their fight, Haku was slowly beginning to get desperate. 

With Sasuke having rejoined the fight, the masked ninja found himself losing. He even had to resort to using much of his stock of senbon just to force the two genin to keep their distance so he could avoid any critical blows. It worked to some degree, letting him escape any serious harm, but unfortunately did not provide enough time for him to recast his jutsu. 

Fighting two opponents that were each individually faster than him was taking it's toll on his stamina. 

Haku knew that he could not let the battle drag on any further. He simply did not have the stamina to fight both ninja at the same time. At least not in a taijutsu match. But they weren't giving him any time to form seals to use ninjutsu or genjutsu. He understood that the Konoha genins were using their numbers advantage to wear him out with non-stop attacks. 

There was one way that he could turn the fight around, and that was to reform and trap both genins in his ice mirrors. His speed within the mirrors surpasses both of the Konoha ninjas, and would ensure his victory in this fight if he could do so. 

The problem was that there was not enough time between the gaps in their attacks for him to form the hand seals. Even though he had managed to avoid critical blows with his experience, at this rate, it would only be a matter of time before he was defeated. 

If he were to reform the mirrors, he would need to take a big risk… 

As the fight continued, Naruto began to step back on his attacks while letting Sasuke take the lead. Meanwhile, he put some of his attention to observe Haku's movements. 

The fight had lasted more than ten minutes now. But neither he nor Sasuke had managed to land any damaging blows. And Haku avoided him like a plague, clearly intimidated by his ability to attack pressure points, spending more of his time fighting off Sasuke instead. Much of the time, Haku would purposely manoeuvre himself so that Sasuke would get in his way so that it would make it hard to fully take advantage of outnumbering the masked ninja two to one. 

Though that wasn't much of a problem for the two teammates. And Naruto gained a new appreciation of why Kakashi had been so adamant about developing good teamwork. The teamwork building exercises they had gone through finally payed off, as the two of them were able to coordinate with each other well enough to not get in the other's way. 

And Naruto could see Haku's defences slowly beginning to crumble. 

But he knew that it was because of their imminent victory that they had to beware, as desperate times called for desperate measures. And Haku was definitely desperate enough to try something reckless to turn the tide of the fight. 

Deciding that the best defence was offence, the blonde genin stepped up the pressure on the fake Kiri-nin by bringing in supplementary ninjutsu into their fight, which had so far been a test of taijutsu skill. 

Letting Sasuke attack from the front to distract Haku for a moment, Naruto formed several hand seals from out of sight, channelling chakra to execute the Shunshin no jutsu. 

In an instant, the white-cloaked figure disappeared from sight and reappeared in a burst of incredible speed directly behind their masked enemy. 

Sensing a presence moving behind him, Haku turned to face Naruto. 

But it was already too late for him. 

Faster than Haku could react, the blonde ninja swung a kunai in an arc, the weapon slicing through flesh. A spurt of blood sprayed out from the wound and onto the ground. Though Naruto had been skilled enough to avoid getting any of the blood on himself. 

The smell of blood invaded their nose, though Naruto found that it only seemed to increase his excitement for battle. He knew that after the fight, he would feel somewhat bad for causing his opponent serious harm, but at the moment, he didn't care. Perhaps it was the adrenaline pumping through his body, or just because it was in the heat of the moment. It didn't matter to him. 

All Naruto knew was that they had to win. 

The two Konoha ninjas watched as Haku's body fell to the ground and sliding along the concrete lying on his side. 

They paused, eyeing Haku's bleeding form before giving each other a triumphant grin. But they know that the wound while serious was not lethal. Naruto looked briefly to Sasuke who nodded and they moved slowly and cautiously in unison towards Haku to make sure he was out of the fight. 

But before they could reach Haku, their eyes bulged out of their sockets in alarm. 

Their eyes darted left and right, trying to figure out if their eyes were deceiving them. 

They mentally berated themselves as they realised that it was not an illusion. 

They were surrounded by ice mirrors. 

Naruto swallowed dryly in nervousness. A million thoughts raced through his head, trying to figure out how it had happened. How did they not notice it until it was too late? 

'Shit! He took the hit on purpose so he could form those mirrors!' Naruto thought with some awe. 

Even though he had expected their enemy to try something desperate and possibly reckless, he would've never imagined something like this. He and Sasuke had thought they had thwarted Haku's every attempt to recreate the mirrors. But going so far as to willingly take a potentially lethal blow just to turn the fight around? 

But Naruto couldn't help but to mentally applaud Haku as it had done the trick despite how desperate the move had been. And he had to admire how well calculated and executed it had been, especially under the amount of pressure the two of them put the masked ninja under. 

By taking a serious hit to the chest, both he and Sasuke had momentarily paused in their attack at the sight of their opponent heavily injured lying on the floor. And taking advantage of their momentary lapse in their attack, Haku had rolled onto his side, so that his back was facing the two of them. And by doing so, the masked ninja was able to form the seals to his jutsu unseen during their short pause. 

Haku eventually rose to his feet, his left hand clutched his chest wound. The two Konoha genins could see a fairly large amount of blood seep from the wound and between his fingers. 

Noticing the bending of the knees in his enemy, Naruto realised that Haku was trying to dive towards a mirror. Willing his body out of his shock, he moved desperately to intercept Haku before the ninja could get to safety inside the mirrors. 

But he was unable to react quickly enough. 

Although safe inside his mirrors, Haku was now breathing raggedly. He lifted his hand that held his wound in front of him to see it covered entirely in blood. 

He took a couple of deep breaths, though not too deep, to ensure the rising of his chest when breathing deeply would not aggravate his wound further until the bleeding slowed down. 

His plan had worked as he had hoped and allowed him to recast the Makyo Hyosho once more. But not without it's price. 

By taking the blow to the chest, he was slowly losing a fair bit of blood. Although his situation could've been a lot worse. If he hadn't anticipated the attack and leaned away from the kunai at the last moment, he would've gotten a much deeper wound. As it was now, his wound was not too serious. But nevertheless, without medical attention, the blood loss would eventually become a factor that could lead to his defeat. He could already feel his strength zapping away. 

Haku made the conclusion that he needed to end the fight as soon as possible. 

Meanwhile Sasuke was contemplating a new strategy now that the situation has changed. 

'These mirrors are made from ice… then…' 

Making the logical conclusion, the raven-haired boy quickly formed several seals with his hands and called out the name of his jutsu. 

"Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu!"

A large fireball raced from his mouth towards the mirrors, seeking to destroy everything in it's path. But as the flames subsided, Sasuke found himself jaw dropping at the sight. 

Not only did his jutsu not melt the ice like he had expected, but it did absolutely no damage at all. 

"It won't melt with that kind of firepower!" Haku explained. 

Seeing his teammate's failed attempt to destroy the mirrors, Naruto grounded his teeth in frustration. Inside these mirrors, Haku held the complete advantage. 

Although he haven't yet experience the power of these mirrors first hand, he had managed to get a glimpse of it's capabilities earlier. 

He didn't know how the technique worked, neither did he care. All he knew was that their opponent could somehow travel between these ice mirrors at extremely high speeds that were as fast if not faster than when he used Shunshin no jutsu, and without the drawbacks. 

As Shunshin no jutsu temporarily increases the user's speed and reflex to incredible levels, the user's eyes could not keep up with their own movements, limiting their manoeuvrability and ability to react to sudden changes. Not to mention the strain placed on the body was quite intense. As such, it was mostly used as a defensive manoeuvre to escape an enemy, or as a one shot attack. As an offensive jutsu, Shunshin no jutsu was likened to battoujutsu within the realm of kenjutsu, in which the initial swing of the sword would provide additional power and speed, but in the case that the attack failed, it would leave the user completely open to attacks.

Somehow, the masked nin's technique did not have these drawbacks. Haku's manoeuvrability at that kind of speed was higher with these mirrors than with Shunshin no jutsu. And his ability to react to change was something Naruto had thought impossible unless Haku's natural speed had been much higher, that his body and eyes were already accustomed to moving at that kind of speed. Then, Haku also seemed to be able to travel through these mirrors with far less strain on the body that Shunshin no jutsu. Though he did negate that somewhat by injuring the masked ninja, as constant movement would further aggravate the wound. 

In any case, Naruto was well aware that at their level, they can't hope to match the masked nin's speed. And neither would they be able to escape the mirrors again, at least not without some form of distraction. 

But now that Haku had trapped them, there was no way he would let them escape so easily. 

In their disadvantageous position, Naruto knew that staying in the defensive was the best choice until they could hopefully find a weakness in Haku's technique. Attacking now would only be a waste of chakra, unless he was able to destroy the mirrors. And he was not arrogant enough to think that his own Katon jutsu packed more of a punch than his teammate's. 

Nevertheless, their strategy remained the same. Wear the enemy down. Though staying alive while doing so would be the hard part. But with the wound he had inflicted on their enemy, it might give them a chance. 

If they could last long enough…

Naruto quickly formed two clones, positioning them each back to back with Sasuke and himself, before Haku attacked. This way, they could limit the number of directions Haku could attack from, making it much easier for them to defend themselves. This was crucial for them if they wanted to be able to defend themselves long enough against Haku's incredible speed. 

Then, without any warning, Haku attacked. Senbon rained from every conceivable direction, and the Konoha ninjas found themselves hard pressed to even defend themselves. 

Naruto was doing a somewhat better job of it, as with the help of his clone to cover his back, he was able to block several senbon with a kunai before he was forced to dive to the side. 

He suffered from several minor scratches where senbon grazed him when he was unable to completely deflect or dodge the senbon, but escaped relatively unscathed. Though having been forced to dodge, the clone behind him sustained damage and dispersed. 

Sasuke on the other hand wasn't doing quite as well. Unlike Naruto whom had experience using Shunshin no jutsu, his eyes were less accustomed to following this kind of speed. Unable to handle even his side, his clone was dispersed almost instantly. And he had sustained some injuries although he was somehow able to avoid being hit in the vitals. 

Naruto frowned as he realised that Sasuke was just sitting duck at the moment. He needed to protect Sasuke while prolonging the fight so Sasuke would have a chance to get his eyes used to this speed. 

Having survived the first assault, Sasuke was already breathing heavily. He had managed to see undistinguishable blurs that was Haku's movements unlike before where he could not see anything at all. The raven-haired boy regained some confidence in himself as he was certain that his eyes were slowly adjusting to tracking high-speed movement. 

Meanwhile, Haku was becoming frustrated. The two Konoha genins performed better than he had expected, and had managed to survive his attack even though he had aimed to incapacitate them quickly to end the fight. 

'This is taking too long' Haku thought to himself. 

There was a new factor that he had not managed to anticipate when creating his plan. Under constant high-speed movement, blood flowed out of his wound quicker than expected. And it was tiring him quickly, at an exponential rate. He could feel his strength slipping away. 

And the once shiningly clean ice mirrors were now decorated with spots of blood wherever Haku had been. 

Seeing the intensity of Haku's last assault, Naruto became aware that Haku aimed to end the fight quickly. It was obvious that the wound he inflicted was weakening him already. 

Quickly reforming another two clones, Naruto once again set them back-to-back with himself and his teammate. 

The blonde's eye darted left and right trying his hardest to locate the masked ninja through the illusions caused by the reflection of the mirrors. 

'There!' 

Naruto's eyes were barely able to follow Haku's movements, finding the masked ninja not much more than a blur to his eyes. But it was enough. 

He had discovered a single flaw to Haku's technique. And he took full advantage of it. 

Although the ice mirrors boosted his speed, the technique did not augment his taijutsu well due to limitations in the technique. Because the ice mirrors work around the concept of reflection to boost speed, like a beam of light bounced between mirrors, the speed travelled between mirrors by the light remains constant as long as there was nothing in it's path. 

However, once Haku makes contact with something or someone, like taijutsu required, that would stop his movement between mirrors, then his speed returns to normal until he gets back to a mirror. Because of this, Haku only attacked from mid range distance using projectile weapons rather than taijutsu, without making contact with anything while midair. 

And while Haku's speed was boosted to incredible level that he could barely follow, the mirror's capabilities did not include the enhancement of his throwing power. And as such, the speed the masked ninja's thrown senbon travelled at speeds only marginally quicker than when outside the mirrors. 

Even though he was barely keeping up with Haku's body, he was able to follow Haku enough to see the senbon thrown at him. This allowed him to dodge and block Haku's attacks. 

It was here, that his clones became useful. As without someone watching his back, Naruto would never be able to see the senbon coming from behind. Not for the first time in his life, Naruto was thankful he had learned the Kage bunshin. 

The blonde genin's body tensed, as he readied his arm for ultra quick movements to block the multiple senbon heading his way. 

But just as he was ready to act, his body suddenly froze. 

A sudden rush of information passed through his mind, letting him know that the Kage bunshin he had left back at the house had dispersed after saving Tazuna's family from samurai. 

This only took a fraction of a second. But for Naruto, he had recovered a fraction of a second too late. 

And a pair of deep blue eyes widened as he watched the senbon close in on him. 

Knowing he could neither dodge or block, Naruto flinched back fearfully on pure instinct. He managed to bring his arms up to shield his head and part of his upper body as best as he could. 

He grunted in pain as multiple senbon embedded itself into his flesh. Several were lodged in his left arm and left thigh. A popping noise behind him let him know that his clone had also been destroyed. 

"Fuck!" Naruto swore under his breath. 

He had been lucky to have escaped any hits to his vital areas. But because of the bad timing his clone at the house had chosen to disperse, he had to ultimately sacrifice the use of an arm and a leg temporarily. 

His entire left arm now hung limply beside him, having been hit in a spot, which temporarily disabled it. And he had lost all feeling in his left leg. It was taking all his will power just to stay standing and not collapsing to his knees. As it was at the moment, both his left arm and leg was practically useless. 

In an instant, things had gone from bad to worse for the Konoha genins. 

Naruto having knowledge in the field knew that the disabling effects would not wear out for at least ten to twenty minutes. 

The blonde cursed again. What bad timing for his clone to disperse… 

How was he supposed to last even ten minutes now that he could not dodge or fight back?

Naruto's breath quickened as his became more frantic by the second. Naruto quickly tried to regulate his breathing to calm his mind. While it did not erase his worries, it calmed him enough, allowing him to think properly once more, so he could devise a plan of action. 

"Naruto!" Sasuke called out in worry for his teammate, having escaped any serious injury himself. 

"I'm alright", Naruto breathed to the Uchiha trying to keep his teammate calm by not adding to his worry. 

Seeing their situation now, Naruto decided that they would have to change their tactics completely if they were to get out of the situation alive. Where before, they were aiming to tire Haku to give them a chance to counterattack, they no longer have the luxury of doing so. 

Screw trying to fight efficiently with chakra! They needed to attack. In this case, the best defence was offence. 

Now that he couldn't dodge attacks, he no longer had the option of staying on the defence and buy time. If he didn't attack now, he would only be target practice for their enemy. And in that case, he won't last even a minute. 

But without the use of one hand, the blonde knew he could not perform the seals for his Katon, offensive jutsu. It was in situations like this that he really wished he knew before hand how to do those one-handed seals that his current enemy had used. He resolved that he would learn it, if he got out of this alive. 

Fortunately for him, he had mastered several low level jutsu to the point where he no longer needed to form the seals to execute the technique. 

Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief at Naruto's response, then jumped to the side, dodging Haku's next barrage of needles. Reacting quickly, as he realised he could see more than a faint blur, the dark haired boy launched a fireball at the faux hunter-nin in retaliation. 

His timing was off slightly, as the fireball singed the tail end of ninja's robes, but otherwise did no damage to their enemy. 

Haku moved to another mirror, this time behind Naruto. 

Naruto's danger senses let him know senbon needles were heading his way. Unable to turn around or dodge to the side in his condition, Naruto formed a kage bunshin directly behind himself, using the clone as a human shield to take the blow for him. 

The clone dispersed, and the senbon that was once lodged in flesh fell to the ground. Naruto breathed another sigh of relief. He didn't think he could create the clone fast enough. 

He was glad he had spent so much time mastering the technique. Not only did he no longer need to form the seals to create kage bunshin, the speed that he could form the clones was especially impressive. 

Thinking quickly, Naruto went through his list of techniques that he could use in this situation. 

Genjutsu? No.

He didn't have anything useful for this situation. Neither could he form the seals for them in his current situation. 

What about Taijutsu? Impossible. 

Even though he still have one arm, taijutsu was useless if he could not catch his enemy. 

But what of ninjutsu? He didn't really have anything useful in his ninjutsu list for this kind of situation. 

Kage bunshin was possible, but not effective for attacking in this situation. He would only be wasting chakra if he tried to rush at Haku and the mirrors with clones. 

Even Shunshin no jutsu was useless as it was a technique that temporarily boosts his reflex and speed to incredible levels by activating his entire body with chakra. It was not a teleportation jutsu despite the fact that it may look like it to civilians. Without the use of his leg, the speed-boosting element of the technique could not be utilised. 

The only ninjutsu he could even think of that could let him move around without using his own legs would be Kawarimi. 

Naruto quickly brainstormed the possibilities of using Kawarimi in his situation. There was one way he could do so that would simultaneously allow him to go on the offensive. 

But it would cost a lot of chakra. 

Still, it was his best shot to buy himself and Sasuke extra time. It was certainly better than standing around waiting to be hit. In any case, it was a better idea than rushing at the mirrors with a multitude of clones. 

Finally having deciding on the course of action, Naruto leaned his weight into his right leg, then bending it at the knee. Pushing chakra into his usable leg, he jumped into the air. 

After launching himself into the air above Sasuke's head, Naruto twisted his body as best as he could without the aid of his left arm, causing his body to spin. In the process, eight shuriken was thrown along with the spin in eight different directions. 

"Shuriken no tatsumaki!" 

Eight shuriken turned into a hundred, each heading for a different direction as they flew at the ice mirrors. Naruto landed hard on the ground on a single leg. 

The blonde's breathing became ragged due to expending so much chakra. 

But he admired his work slightly. It had been a move he created on the spot based on the shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu, which luckily he could also do without hand seals. It was incredibly draining, but he needed it for the next step of his plan. 

Haku easily deflected the shuriken flying at him with a throw of some senbon, letting the rest of the shuriken hit, embedding into the ice mirrors. The shuriken Haku hit with senbon dispersed into a cloud of smoke. 

The masked ninja stared at the blonde confusedly. The attack the blonde threw at him was more suited for use when alone and surrounded by multiple opponents. He had easily blocked the shuriken aimed at him, with the rest hitting his mirrors uselessly. 

Haku wondered what the blonde was planning to do. There was no way he would use a high chakra draining technique that was completely ineffective. So it must be part of some trick that the blonde was trying to pull. 

But before the hunter-nin could further contemplate Naruto's actions, he found a fist in his face. 

The force of the punch was enough to send him to the concrete floor. 

Haku grunted from the pain of having been struck in the face, but recovered quickly enough to roll and dodge several shuriken thrown at him by Sasuke. 

Quickly using the momentum of his roll, Haku pushed himself into a crouching position and quickly sprung himself into another mirror. 

Again, Haku found himself copping another hard punch to the face, when he barely made it to the mirror. This time however, he managed to see the attacker. 

Haku couldn't help but gasp in surprise behind his mask. The punch had been from the blonde rather than Sasuke, whom he thought it was. He had thought he had disabled the blonde, and had placed most of his focus on Sasuke instead, allowing him to be caught off guard. 

Haku recovered from the punch more quickly this time, and was back safely in another mirror before the two genins could attack again. 

Zabuza's accomplice winced slightly as the impact from the two punches gave him a slight headache. He tried to shake the pain away, only to make it worse. He stopped shaking and let the headache fade slowly by itself. 

Haku paused as his mask cracked, and then fell apart, finally revealing his effeminate face behind the intimidating mask. 

His thought raced. How did the blonde catch him at the speed he was moving? Judging by his movement earlier, he was almost a hundred percent sure that his senbon had disabled his arm and leg for a short while. In his condition, it was impossible for the blonde to catch him unless it was a jutsu of some kind. 

Naruto smirked slightly as he could see the puzzled expression on the fake hunter-nin's face. His idea had worked better than he expected. By littering the entire area and each mirror with shuriken, he was able to use Kawarimi to replace himself with one of the many shuriken. As long as there was a shuriken where he wanted to go, he could do so, even without the use of one leg. 

Although if not for the fact that he had mastered Kawarimi without using hand seals, he would not be able to do this. And the speed that he could perform Kawarimi was exceptional, being almost on instinct. 

Sasuke looked at Naruto in a little surprise. Moments before, Naruto looked ready to collapse, and was using pure will power to remain standing. How the hell did he hit Haku not once, but twice in this condition? 

"All right Sasuke, I'll draw his attention, you try to find any openings to attack." Naruto muttered his plan to Sasuke. 

Sasuke nodded and prepared himself. 

Meanwhile, Haku was still trying to catch his breath. Maintaining the Makyo Hyosho was very draining. Not to mention he had already lost quite a bit of blood. 

His bleeding had slowed a bit before Naruto's attack, but was now once again bleeding profusely. 

Haku's eyes widened as he felt an elbow coming at his head from the left. 

He ducked under the arm and dived at another mirror. The moment he hit the mirror, he found himself having to twist his body to dodge a kick. Having avoided the kick by merely centimetres, the hunter-nin moved to another mirror, then to another, this time not stopping so Naruto could not follow. 

Haku eventually stopped, his breathing much more raggedly than before. He winced as the manoeuvring he had done to avoid the blonde's strikes aggravated the wound on his chest even further. 

Much of his robe from his chest down was now soaked in his blood making it awfully uncomfortable as the fabric stuck to him like a second skin. 

The hunter-nin forced the feelings of discomfort to the back of his mind and focused on analysing what he had seen of the blonde's technique. 

From what he had seen, the strikes the genin had sent at him had been somewhat awkward. It was the kind of awkward movement that was expected from a person that couldn't use one side of his body for balance when trying to throw a punch or kick. And he could remember that strikes were made exclusively with the right arm and leg, despite it being obviously more convenient to use the left arm or leg in one case. 

This confirmed what he knew all along, that the blonde could not use his left arm and leg. 

But if that was the case, how did the blonde managed to attack him?

Haku eventually realised that the blonde was trying to distract him from attacking his teammate, while the black-haired genin would look for weaknesses. Once having realised this, he dodged the next attack from Naruto and readied several senbon in his hand and threw them at Sasuke as he moved to another mirror. 

Sasuke's eyes widened, suddenly realising that he could see Haku much more clearly than before. Pulling out a senbon that was lodged in his body, he used it to block a senbon, while jumping aside to dodge the rest. Having avoided the needles, Sasuke threw the senbon in his hand back directly at Haku in retaliation. 

Haku although was able to easily block the senbon was completely stunned. 

'He could follow my movements exactly!'

Sasuke finally smirked, especially seeing the shocked look on Haku's face. 

'I can see all of his movements'

Unknown to Sasuke, his eyes had changed from the normal black to a deep red colour and had a single black tomoe. 

Haku watched the two genins warily, while trying to contain his ragged breathing to conceal his weakness from his enemy. His left hand was once again clutching his wound on his chest in pain. After the pain dulled slightly, he wiped the blood on his hand on a still clean section of his clothes. 

As the fake kiri-nin was staring at the two genins, his opponents stared back. Each side was analysing the other. 

'The fight is taking too long' Haku reprimanded himself for not being able to finish the fight quicker. 

Things weren't looking good for him. If he wasn't mistaken, then the raven-haired boy had awakened a bloodline ability during battle. It was the Sharingan doujutsu, if his observations were correct. 

He needed to end the fight before the boy had the chance to adjust to his newly awakened Sharingan eyes. And he needed to figure out the blonde's technique before he regained the use of his temporarily disabled limbs. 

Gauging the situation carefully, Haku decided that the best way to find the blonde's weakness was to force one out of him by making the genin move. He launched a senbon at the blonde from the front, which Naruto was able to deflect with a kunai he held in his right hand. 

While Naruto was blocking the senbon, Haku had dived to another mirror and threw another senbon at the blonde's unprotected back. 

Instead of hitting Naruto, the senbon embedded itself into the floor. Haku's eyes widened once again as Naruto disappeared. The spot he once stood now lay a shuriken which turned to puff of smoke right before his eyes. 

Feeling a light breeze coming from the side, Haku leaned his head away from the source, dodging a punch from Naruto, as the spiky haired boy once again suddenly appeared beside him. 

Pushing off the mirror, Haku sprung himself at another mirror. He was forced to bend his body in the air to dodge a massive fireball Sasuke had unleashed at him. 

Both sides once again stared down the other. All three of them were sweating heavily, and in Haku's case, his clothes were soaked thoroughly in both sweat and blood. 

It was no secret that both sides were tired, as all three were getting too fatigued to even bother trying to hide it. 

Despite the fact Haku had wanted to end the fight quickly, he found it to be impossible currently. He was tiring fast, and with the kunai wound, he could no longer move non-stop for long periods of time within these mirrors. The best he could do was to attack in a short but intense assault, then rest to catch his breath, so he could attack again. As much as he wanted to rush the fight, it would only tire him out quicker and before he could defeat the two genins if he did so. 

As he was resting, the fake Kiri nin once again quickly analysed the situation and what he had seen of Naruto's movements. 

He had partially figured out the blonde's technique. The clue lay in the fact that the moment the blonde dodged the senbon he threw at him, a shuriken appeared where the blonde stood before. And Haku was entirely positive that the shuriken was not there before. Not to mention the shuriken bust into smoke immediately after. 

If his guess was right, then the blonde had used Kawarimi to replace himself with a shuriken in order to move around. That would also explain why the spiky haired genin wasted so much chakra to form the shuriken clones for a wide area effect technique that was ineffective for that situation. 

Rather than the normal defensive usage of the replacement technique, where the user replaces themselves with an object to avoid attacks, the blonde had modified the technique for use in an offensive situation. 

Haku mentally applauded the boy for his ingenious use of such a basic technique. Not to mention the level of mastery needed to be able to use it like he does. 

Not only did the blonde replace himself with as small an object as a shuriken, he was capable of executing the jutsu without the need for hand seals. Although that wasn't surprising, as many high-level jounins were also capable of such. But the speed in which the blonde could perform the basic ninja technique without seals surpassed even the most seasoned of ninja, even if he did discard the genjutsu portion that was used to deceive enemies in exchange for speed. 

However, Haku was fully aware of the flaws to this technique that he could exploit, in this circumstance. 

Firstly, the blonde was definitely slower than his speed within the mirrors even with this variation of Kawarimi. Naruto was only able to attack when he stopped moving between mirrors. Also, the blonde's eyes could barely keep up with him. That meant, if he kept moving without stopping, Naruto would not be able to come close to him, making the technique useless on the offence. Thus, placing the blonde back in a defensive situation to Haku's advantage. 

Secondly, it was obvious that the boy had yet to perfect the technique, as his reflex and response time was slow. The time it took for the spiky haired genin to become aware of his position directly after using replacement was too long. Therefore, the recovery period between travel and attack was long enough for Haku to be able to avoid being hit, especially now that he had figured out the technique. If only the blonde had more practice, then this would be less of a problem. 

Thirdly, it was very chakra consuming to constantly use it judging by the boy's laboured breathing even if the jutsu was low level. After all, the massive amount of shuriken kage bunshin was the prerequisite to this technique. And that was very draining on his chakra. 

Lastly, the shuriken dispersed after Naruto replaced with it. After awhile, the areas that have shuriken will start to decrease. And since the shuriken are still technically kage bunshin, Haku could easily destroy them with a single hit, rendering Naruto's technique practically useless without the shuriken. 

Deciding that it was the best course of action to take the blonde out of the fight first, Haku channelled some cold chakra using his kekkei genkai. He then moved to one of the lower ice mirrors and formed a jutsu once in position. 

'Sensatsu suisho!'

Hundreds of ice needles formed in the air and flew at the two genins. 

Sasuke now armed with the Sharingan found the attack pathetically easy to avoid. Meanwhile, Naruto was able to use Kawarimi to get away. 

However, unsuspecting to the genins, Haku's plan was not to hit them with the ice needles. As the two dodged, the hundreds of ice needles struck the numerous ice mirrors behind them, dispersing every shuriken kage bunshin that was still lodged in those ice mirrors. 

Naruto frowned. 'He figured out my technique already!' 

With almost half of his remaining shuriken kage bunshin dispersed by Haku, Naruto knew he could not let Haku destroy any more, or his new technique would be rendered useless. And he simply did not have enough chakra to reform them. 

Having come to this conclusion, Naruto attacked. 

Unfortunately, Haku had anticipated this reaction. This time returning the favour, Haku punched the genin in the face before Naruto's own blow landed, sending the blonde to the ground. 

Sasuke seeing the fake hunter-nin about to attack the downed Naruto, who was slow to get of the floor without the use of his arm and leg, quickly shot another fireball at Haku. 

Haku easily dodged the fireball with his superior speed and threw more senbon towards the helpless Naruto. 

Sasuke jumped in path, in front of Naruto and deflected the senbon with discarded senbon he had picked up in each hand. 

The raven-haired boy again retaliated with a Katon: Hosenka no jutsu with multiple fireballs, each one getting closer and closer to their target, as Haku moved from mirror to mirror to dodge. 

After finishing the Katon jutsu, Sasuke panted a little from exertion. 

Despite the fact his eyes could now see and predict Haku's movements, his body could not keep up with that speed. The only way he could fight effectively was to attack from a range using projectiles. But he had already used up all of his kunai and shuriken earlier and has no time to retrieve them. The only thing he could do now, was to use his Katon ninjutsu and time his attacks right. 

After several more quick exchanges between Sasuke and Haku, Naruto had already stood back up. Both sides faced each other, now breathing even more heavily than before. 

Haku watched the two genins with blurred vision, as the blood loss was finally getting to him. Having used the sensatsu suisho to destroy the blonde's shuriken kage bunshin, as he was down to his last several needles had exhausted him even further. 

Things had not worked out as he had planned. He was supposed to have incapacitated the blonde, but the black haired genin ruined his plan with his cursed eyes and was able to protect the blonde even when the opportunity to take him out presented itself.

Though Haku attributed his failure partially to the fact that he had to watch his senbon usage as his armament was low and could not throw them indiscriminately. And with the Sharingan, the boy's timing was perfect, placing even more pressure on him. If not for his skill and superior speed, he would already be toast. He already had several close calls. 

Meanwhile, the two genins kept their focused eyes on the enemy. They felt as if their lungs were burning from the lack of air. Sasuke's stamina was already wearing thin after his earlier injuries and having used Katon jutsu countless times. 

But beside the raven-haired boy, Naruto was slowly regaining feeling in his left limbs. It had not taken as long as the blonde had anticipated, though Naruto attributed it to his healing factor due to Kyubi's influence. 

Lifting his right arm, the blonde wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve to relieve himself of the tickling feeling when drops of sweat rolled down his face. It was irritating when that happened especially when sweat entered his eyes. And he did not want that to distract him in a crucial moment. 

'A couple of more minutes are all I need to regain enough use in my arm and leg.' Naruto thought. 

Just as he was thinking that, the ice mirrors suddenly began to fade, and Haku dropped from a mirror to the ground below on his feet. 

Naruto smiled a little relieved. 

"Oh Good. He doesn't have enough chakra to maintain those mirrors any more. But I barely have any chakra left myself" the blonde muttered under his breath more to himself than to his teammate. 

Despite the size of his massive chakra reserves, the blonde ninja was practically drained of chakra after using shuriken kage bunshin as well as repeated use of Kawarimi. 

"I'm the same. Barely have enough for one more attack" Sasuke replied softly, though a little annoyed that he had used most of his chakra without landing a single hit. Even his Sharingan had deactivated to conserve energy. 

"Then we'll have to make the next shot count", Naruto told Sasuke in a serious tone who nodded in agreement. 

Both sides now stood facing the other, neither side seemingly wanting to attack first, now that they are out of the mirrors. 

Naruto frowned slightly as in his current exhausted condition, he was only capable of fighting with taijutsu at most. But his speed had been severely hampered as his limbs have yet to regain their full usage. 

He clenched his left hand as hard as he could to get more blood to flow through his arm, trying to hasten his recovery. He did the same for his left leg by tensing his thigh and calf muscles periodically. 

Naruto and Sasuke gave each other a look, which both members of team 7 recognised what the other tried to say. They gave each other a nod, and attacked in perfect coordination. 

Rushing at their enemy side by side, they pressured Haku into another taijutsu fight. 

Naruto reached into his kunai pouch and clutched his last kunai in his hand as he ran. Moving as fast as his condition allowed, he threw the kunai at Zabuza's subordinate, causing the said ninja to dodge directly into the path where he was already in wait. 

With both sides exhausted and out of chakra, the Konoha ninjas held the advantage of outnumbering Haku two to one. 

Eventually, with Sasuke's help, Naruto managed to land a blow to Haku's chest area. The hit while light, brushed across Haku's kunai wound making him cry out in pain. The pain was enough to make Haku lose focus momentarily, enough of a distraction for Naruto to sweep Haku's feet from under him. 

Naruto quickly jumped away under Sasuke's instruction, as the Uchiha had already prepared a fire jutsu, their last attack, which they hoped would finish the fight. 

"Katon: Goukakyu no jutsu!" Sasuke cried out as the flames engulfed the body on the ground. 

Naruto and Sasuke both let out a loud sigh of relief at finally defeated the nin, believing that their enemy had been fried to a crisp by the Katon jutsu. 

But to their shock, Haku's form could be seen through the smoke. 

What he did was that the fake hunter-nin had pushed his body to the limit, using the remainder of what little chakra he had left to form an ice barrier around himself to shield from the flames. 

Unfortunately, he didn't have enough chakra left to completely block out the flames. But it was enough to avoid instant death. 

Naruto and Sasuke each backed away in fear, both knowing that had been their last attack, neither in any condition to fight anymore, as they were now too drained to continue fighting. 

The smoke and steam dispersed, revealing a heavily injured Haku whom had numerous heavy burns all over his body curtesy of Sasuke's Goukakyu no jutsu. Though none of the burns were on his vital areas. 

The effeminate ninja now held a kunai in his hand, something he had picked up from the ground after being hit with the fireball. 

Haku struggled a bit to get from a crouch into a standing position, his legs wobbling and shaking uncontrollably. Only pure will kept his knees from buckling and causing him to collapse to the floor. 

Haku's gaze set on the lack haired Konoha ninja in front of him with tired, half lidded eyes. His arm slowly rose into the air preparing to throw the kunai. 

Naruto's eyes widened in fear as his eyes darted from Haku to Sasuke and back. Sasuke's body was swaying from side to side, almost like he was drunk. Naruto swallowed nervously for his teammate. The boy looked ready to collapse. There was no way Sasuke could dodge the kunai. 

And unlike senbon, a weapon with a low death rate, kunai could be fatal even if it did not hit the vital points. If the kunai hit Sasuke, Sasuke could die. 

Meanwhile, Haku was biting his lip in indecision, as he found himself hesitating. 

He already knew he would lose either way. He was exhausted and had already lost too much blood. He was going to die unless he received medical attention right away, while was most unlikely out here. He had just enough energy in his body to only be able to take out one of the two genins he was fighting. 

He really hated to take a life. But as his last duty as Zabuza's tool, he must remove the obstacles to Zabuza's goals. For Zabuza's sake, he would harden his own heart to kill one of the genins, no matter how much he would regret it. 

He had decided… 

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To Naruto, everything seemed to move in slow motion. He could see that Sasuke wasn't even paying attention anymore as he was practically passed out while standing. 

He needed to stop Haku. But he could barely move anymore. And from where he was, he would not be able to intercept the kunai in time. 

There was only one thing he could do. Get to Haku before he could throw the kunai. From where he was standing, the distance to Haku was shorter than it would be to intercept the kunai. 

He didn't have enough chakra for ninjutsu, and had barely enough to stand. That left taijutsu as the only kind of attack he could use. 

But to stop Haku with a taijutsu strike, he needed to hit him hard enough to keep him down. In other words, a lethal blow. 

Could he bare it to kill someone?

Was he willing to kill to save Sasuke?

The answer was yes. Because he couldn't afford it to be otherwise. He would not let his teammate be killed. 

Biting down hard, Naruto forced his body to move with pure will. His muscles screamed in protest, and the strain caused some of his leg muscles to tear. But the pain had yet to even register, as his entirety of his focus was on stopping Haku. 

He moved. 

Then…. silence.

'Did I make it?' Was all Naruto could think. 

And the sound of a body collapsing to the ground could be heard.

Naruto's breath caught in his throat at the sound of Sasuke collapsing behind him. Dread filled his mind. 

Then… it was followed by a loud clang of metal meeting concrete. 

Naruto's breath escaped his lips in a sigh of relieve. The sound of metal against the concrete floor let him know the kunai had missed Sasuke, like he had fervently hoped. 

Sasuke most likely only collapsed due to exhaustion. 

Naruto's eyes refocused on his arm, trailing the limb outwards to his extended index finger. The single extended finger made contact with Haku's chest, just above the cut wound he had inflicted earlier in the fight. 

Haku looked down at where the finger met his body. His eyes were bulged out from the most intense pain he had ever felt in his life. Blood seeped from between his lips and dribbled down his chin like a red miniature waterfall. 

Slowly, Haku looked up, finally meeting the blue eyes of the blonde. 

The look in Haku's eyes made Naruto freeze. 

'His eyes… so much like my own'. 

It was the same look he had once held. The look that let him know, that they were the same. That Haku had the look of one that was hated, alone, unwanted, unneeded… 

And it made Naruto feel all the more guilty. 

Haku knew that he was already dead. He had taken a direct hit to a major pressure point in his chest with enough force to heavily damage his internal organs. It wasn't enough to warrant instant death, but close enough. 

Naruto watched in shock as a serene expression eventually formed on the fake kiri-nin's face. It was almost like the ninja finally felt free, like a burden lifted from his shoulders and that he felt content in death. 

The ninja's words were soft, but Naruto heard it as clear as day. 

"Thank you for stopping me from killing… " Haku whispered to him. 

Naruto's eyes widened, completely speechless. 

"Sorry Zabuza-san… I can't protect you anymore…" Haku whispered into the air, and closed his eyes for the last time. 

Naruto caught his body before it hit the ground and laid him down gently. 

Naruto dropped to his ass, finally unable to remain standing. He let out a shaky breath that he didn't realise he had been holding, before taking several deep breaths to calm his rapidly beating heart. 

It did not work. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to jump out of his chest. And the heavy feeling in his stomach made his sick. And his throat felt constricting. 

Bile rose to his lips, and Naruto tried his best to keep it from escaping his lips. 

He couldn't help but take a look at the serene face on the boy he had just killed. The thought disgusted him. And one look was enough to send him over the edge, making him empty out the entire contents of his stomach onto the floor. 

Naruto slumped down, feeling slightly better, but not much. He turned his head to look at Sasuke who lay on the ground face first, on his chest. 

As if feeling his stare, the raven-haired boy looked up and gave him a tired grin with half lidded eyes. 

Naruto returned a somewhat strained smile, as he was still trying to get over the shock of taking his first life. 

As he sat there on the concrete floor, Haku's last words reverberated within his mind. 

'Thank you for stopping me from killing…'

'I can't protect you anymore…'

Naruto looked down at his right hand, the hand that dealt the finishing blow that killed Haku. He clenched it into a fist, hard. 

Naruto didn't understand. Haku could've killed them both. There had been many chances throughout the entire fight. But Haku held back. Why? 

Haku did not want to kill, and in the end, his hesitation cost him his life. The thought that he took the life of the person that spared him his life made him feel even more disgusted with himself. 

He had been forced by circumstance to kill Haku. He even felt it somewhat justified that he was only protecting Sasuke. At least that was what he told himself. But it didn't really make him feel any better. 

And even though Haku had been his enemy, he did not deserve to die. 

A thought entered his mind. Was this what being a shinobi was truly about? Did being a true shinobi mean killing without regret, without emotion? Like Zabuza? 

But… even though Haku had been Zabuza's companion, he practically oozed kindness. He could sense his hesitation even at the end, when he had made the decision to kill Sasuke. Even in the last moments of his life, all he could say was being glad he did not have to kill. 

Naruto felt pity for the boy's life he took. Haku had given his life to protect Zabuza even though the man didn't even deserve such loyalty. 

But there was no doubt that Haku was strong. He had certainly earned his respect. 

Things were starting to make sense. Things the Sandaime had been telling him all his life, as well as Iruka sensei. 

"I think I finally understand… what it means to be strong…" Naruto whispered to himself while staring at Haku's face. 

Naruto promised himself right then and there, that in honour of Haku's memory, he would protect his own precious people. Sandaime, Iruka-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Anko-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and even Sasuke. 

And he would protect everyone in his village. 

Because he too, wanted to be strong. 

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As both Naruto and Sasuke were resting on the ground, loud chirping noises suddenly came through the mist. It was the almost like the sound of a thousand birds chirping at the same time. 

Naruto and Sasuke both lifted their heads and turned to the direction of the noise. They turned just in time to see Kakashi drive a crackling ball of chakra into Zabuza's chest, instantly killing the man. 

Kakashi pulled his fist out of Zabuza's bloodied chest and let the dead ninja's body fall to the ground with a thump. Kakashi sighed tiredly, but relieved at finally having finished their enemy off. He had already used almost all of his chakra to defeat Zabuza. And rest sounded awesome at the moment. 

But a sudden curt laugh attracted their attention, placing the entire team once more on edge. They whipped their heads towards the direction of the voice and found a large mob of samurai and criminals led by a short man that wore a business suit and glasses. 

Kakashi slowly made his way to Naruto and Sasuke's position, as they were closer to the mob. Sasuke despite being dead tired pushed himself off the ground to a stand from his prone position. 

"Oh? How disappointing, Zabuza. It's good that you're dead. I never intended to pay you anyways" The short man at the front mocked whilst looking at Zabuza's dead body not far behind them.

The midget then looked at team 7. 

"Ha ha, you guys just saved me a lot of trouble and money" Gatoh said smugly. "We'll just have thank you… by killing you …"

Naruto's expression instantly darkened. His teeth grinded against each other, and his hand were clenched into fists so tightly that his nails dug into his palms hard enough to draw blood. Even his entire body was shaking in pure rage. 

Kakashi was the first to notice the blonde's anger, but did nothing, as he too was very feeling angry with Gatoh. He was just better at hiding it than the blonde. Though he kept his eyes on the boy to make sure he would not do anything rash. 

But Naruto was beyond pissed off. It was beyond simple anger, and almost bordered on hate. Naruto tried to reign in his anger, but his efforts proved futile. 

'It was all for nothing…' he thought sadly, which turned into more anger. 

He had killed someone that didn't deserved to die. And it was all for nothing. 

Then, as if a dam breaking, his mind became flooded with pure hatred. 

All he knew was that man… Gatoh, would pay. And he'd make sure of it. 

Kakashi and Sasuke's eyes widened and backed away as the killing intent that leaked out from the angry blonde was beginning to suffocate them. 

The crowd relished in their fear, thinking the ninja were afraid of them, as they were less sensitive to killing intent than ninjas to be affected. 

But as much as Sasuke and Kakashi were wary of the mob, they were more so of Naruto. 

'What incredible killing intent!' Kakashi thought. 'Is the seal breaking? No. Some chakra is leaking through… But…'

Naruto bent down into a crouch and picked up a kunai that lay on the ground in front of him. He slowly stood back up, but his back was hunched slightly. It was almost as if he could go berserk and charge the crowd any second. 

Naruto turned his head to Kakashi, who backed up further in fear at the look on the blonde's face. Instead of the normal brilliant blue eyes that he had expected to see, they were now replaced by a pair of slitted deep red eyes that showed pure malice. His whisker marks had also thickened and darkened, making the boy look animalistic. 

Naruto let out a small snarl, bearing his fangs, causing Kakashi to take another step backwards. Naruto was obviously under the influence of the Kyubi. And he wasn't completely sure Naruto could determine friend from foe in this state. 

To Kakashi's relief, Naruto's attention focused back to Gatoh and the crowd. The look of rage intensified as his gaze focused on the short man in the front. His eyes narrowed, making them seem even more demonic looking. 

Then all of a sudden, he disappeared from sight. 

'Fast!' Kakashi thought, a little shaken as he was the only one capable of following his movements, and even then, Naruto was not much more than a blur. Though he had his Sharingan eye already covered to conserve chakra. Sasuke on the other hand was completely unable to see Naruto having also deactivated his Sharingan. 

Naruto reappeared in front of Gatoh, the kunai in his hands was already embedded into Gatoh's heart before any one realised what had happened, killing the midget instantly. 

Naruto stayed completely still with his head down, his bangs covering his eyes. His hand was still gripping tightly on the handle of the kunai that was lodged in Gatoh's heart. His hold on the blade was all that was keeping Gatoh's body upright. 

All present held in a breath of air, being completely still. Silence ensued, as the mob was too scared from the display to say or do anything lest they invoke the blonde's wrath. 

Even though every one was still, blood flowed from the wound, creating a large red patch of cloth on the business suit Gatoh wore. The blonde slowly pulled the blade back, and the body of the crime boss fell to the ground with a thump, making some of the closer crooks jump slightly in fright. 

The Kyubi container slowly lifted his head, finally revealing his dark red, demonic eyes from behind his hair. 

The few men close by that could see the boy clearly stumbled backwards in fear. The pure malice and hate within those eyes were downright frightening. And they way the boy looked at them was almost like the eyes of a predator watching it's prey. The killing intent that they could barely sense earlier was now suffocating, now that Naruto was close. 

Then, as the crooks were beginning to think they were going to die, the blonde disappeared once again, reappearing between Sasuke and Kakashi. 

Blood slowly dripped from the tip of Naruto's blade and onto the floor. Eventually, he lost his grip on the handle of the kunai, letting it fall to the floor. Several loud clangs could be heard, before the blade finally stopped bouncing. 

The intimidating red eyes faded back to the usual blue. And the intent to kill faded, as the object of his rage had already been eliminated. Naruto dropped to one knee, too tired to even stand. The sudden rush of Kyubi's chakra had energised him for a brief moment. But now that it was gone, he felt even worse than before. 

Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief as Kyubi's influence on Naruto receded. While he could sense that the seal was not close to breaking, Naruto being influenced by Kyubi was never a good thing. 

Though the scary part was that he couldn't distinguish which part of the killing intent originated from Kyubi and which part from Naruto himself. 

Seeing the boy too exhausted to even stand, Gatoh's men quickly regained their confidence. 

"Damn ninja! You just killed our source of money! Now we'll have to attack the town and take all the valuables!" One man announced. The rest of the mob cheered in agreement. 

"Is there anything you could do to get rid of them, sensei? A jutsu or something?" Naruto questioned, hoping his sensei would answer yes. 

"No, I've used up too much chakra…" Kakashi replied, to his disappointment. 

"Let's go!" One of the leading crooks yelled. And together, the group of criminals charged towards them. 

Naruto watched the mob wearily with half lidded eyes as they moved towards them. 

He tried to will his body to move, to prepare himself to fight. But his body would not respond. Even his vision was blurry. He was in no condition to fight. The only one even capable of fighting now, was Sakura. And at her skill level, Sakura would never be able to fight all of the samurai and criminals at the same time. 

But before the mob could get within twenty meters of them, an arrow fell out of the sky in between team 7 and Gatoh's mob, effectively stopping the charge. 

Naruto's eyes opened wide, and the team whipped their head around, to find a massive crowd of wave country civilians that had armed themselves with anything they could find. Picks and shovels were common among them. Even though they were untrained and improperly armed, they easily outnumbered Gatoh's men five to one. 

"Anyone who moves any closer to this island will die facing the entire force of this island!" A civilian man leading the crowd called out. In unison, the entire crowd of villagers brandished their weapons and roared in agreement. 

"Inari!" Naruto called out in relief at seeing the boy at the front of the crowd. 

"The hero always comes at the right time, right!" The boy called out from the front of the crowd with a grin. The eight year old was wearing a helmet and holding a crossbow in his hands looking ready to fight. 

Naruto smiled proudly at the boy. 

Now knowing that his team was saved, Naruto finally let go and succumbed to unconsciousness. 

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AN: Man, this chapter took me awhile since something always seemed off, and I kept going back to edit it. And each time I do that, word count increased by a lot making it longer to edit. The fighting was kinda fun to write though, even though I think I might have dragged it out a bit too much. I hope this chapter was more satisfactory than the last chapter. I know the last chapter wasn't as good since I wanted to rush it out so I could get to the original stuff.

I'm not sure if I made Naruto too strong here. Although skill wise, Naruto wasn't too strong in my opinion. But realistically, he shouldn't have that much chakra to have used all those techniques unless drawing from Kyubi which he didn't until the end of the chapter, which was after the actual fighting. Although I could argue that this Naruto would have a bit more chakra than in canon due to the extra training. 

Also, people might disagree, but I think Haku is close to or at jounin level, though his natural speed without the Makyo Hyosho, I believe would be only at genin to low chunin level. I also implied that Haku held back, so I don't think neither Sasuke nor Naruto are overpowered even if they defeated him the way they did. Also, they won mostly through wearing Haku down rather than outright defeating him with skill. And that was reasonable for a two on one fight. 

I've never seen in any fic where Naruto almost looses a fight due to having assimilated a clone's memory in a crucial moment in a fight that distracted him and almost cost him the fight. So I put that in. 

Sorry to those that wanted Haku to live and be female or paired with Sasuke. But I've never been much of a female Haku fan myself. And he didn't fit into the story, since he wasn't in it after the wave arc from what I originally planned. 

Jutsu:

The shuriken no tatsumaki (tornado of shuriken) is a technique I came up for Naruto. I'm obviously going with that spiral trend in Naruto canon for names. Naruto throws shuriken as he spins so it goes in different directions. It would look like an outward expanding ball of shuriken. Like it's described, its just a variation in the use of the shuriken kage bunshin no jutsu. Instead of normally throwing large amounts of shuriken in one direction, Naruto does it in many directions.

To Callibretto:

It's more realistic that Naruto didn't do anything. This is because the only one that could fight Haku evenly was Kakashi even though they outnumber him. Plus, with Kakashi having been captured, and the team facing life and death earlier. They would be mentally exhausted. Avoiding another fight where they could die was the best choice until they are rested and prepared. Also, Naruto doesn't exactly have a crush on Kurenai yet and vice versa. It's starting to develop unconsciously, but It's more like an attraction. Finding someone attractive doesn't mean you have a crush on them. And Kurenai and Naruto weren't really feeling uneasy being teased. More like embarrassed. I don't think many readers (including yourself) interpret the fic the way I wanted it to be interpreted. Probably bad writing on my part. 


	6. Chapter 6: Competition

CHAPTER 6: COMPETITION

* * *

His half lidded eyes slowly trailed the form of his teacher. Two orbs of crystal blue shifted and tumbled, eventually settling onto a greyish-white haired man. 

His mind was working sluggishly in his tired state, taking twice as long to decipher the gesture of his instructor as a simple wave of goodbye, ending yet another day of mission work. 

The blonde ignored it, too tired to make any semblance of a response. 

Even as Sasuke left for home, he stood unmoving like a training dummy, stiff and completely unresponsive. 

It had been weeks since that day, yet his memories were as fresh as the day it happened. 

His nights since then, had been plagued constantly by visions of the dead.

When he slept, as soon as his mind crosses the boundaries of consciousness into sleep, his subconscious mind would be bombarded endlessly with images of a dying Haku. 

His face bloodied from the blood that flowed from his lips, and the terrifyingly dull, eyes as he lay dying. He had the look of someone thoroughly defeated, but was perfectly at ease and content with the approaching death, as though it brought him comfort by finally releasing his from a lifetime of torment and pain. 

Even in a dream, the image of Haku's face was frighteningly vivid. And when he stared into those lifeless eyes, he would find himself jolted awake suddenly, soaked in cold sweat once again, only to find that he had dosed off for no more than a few moments. 

The lingering guilt of his first kill was causing him a lack of sleep, and was taking it's toll on him mentally and physically. 

More than once, Naruto wondered whether Haku's spirit was seeking vengeance even in death, by not allowing him any rest. 

The blonde sighed finally, and shook himself out of these absurd thoughts. 

Each night, he would only get just barely enough sleep to scrape through the next day. He was still capable of performing his duties as a ninja, but he no longer had the energy he usually held, and to others, he passed off as unusually quiet and distant. 

Kakashi had been concerned for his mental health, having made his first kill. The jounin even tried to remove him from active duty for some time to recover, though he refused adamantly not wanting to show any weakness to his teammates, especially Sasuke. Kakashi eventually relented, as he proved capable still, in completing his duties. 

But it seemed that he really should have taken time off, as he was starting to hallucinate in his tired state due to a lack of sleep. It was making him see square rocks and in the middle of the road. 

He blinked and shook his head a little, trying to shake away the hallucination. 

Naruto blinked again. It was still there. He squinted his eyes at the rock, taking a closer look. 

'Wait a minute… Square rock?' 

The blonde frowned and his eyes began to twitch. He wasn't hallucinating at all. 

It was only someone using a ninja technique to make themselves seem inconspicuous, and doing a really poor job of it. And he thought he had been seeing things! 

Only a poorly trained person could butcher such a low-level ninja technique. Even he had a solid grasp of this technique despite his lack of skill in the basic ninja techniques when compared to others. 

And he knew just the person…

"Konohamaru, a square rock with two holes like that does not exist! It's so obvious" He spoke exasperatedly, rolling his eyes as he spoke. 

"I should've expected that from my rival", a child like voice exclaimed from within the rock textured box. 

Then, the square box glowed brightly, making Naruto back away slightly. As the brightness reached it's peak, it exploded, enshrouding it in a dense cloud of smoke. 

Coughing noises could be heard from within the smoke, making Naruto sigh even further in exasperation. 

As the gaseous substance slowly dispersed, three tiny figures revealed themselves from within. 

"Hey, you used too much gunpowder!" Konohamaru complained loudly. 

The three then realised that their presence had been revealed and turned awkwardly to the blonde who was staring back with a deadpan look. Quickly jumping into a pose, the three introduced themselves in a way they thought cool.

"The one who possesses the sex appeal of an adult, and the female ninja from the senior group, Moegi!" a small red headed girl exclaimed. 

"The one who loves dividing numbers, Udon!" a dark haired boy sporting a pair of glasses cried out half heartedly, as he got into an equally silly pose of his own. 

"The village's number one genius ninja, Konohamaru!" the final figure, Konohamaru boasted. 

"The three of us make the Konohamaru corps!" The three called out in unison. 

As much as he loved theatrics and flashy entrances, Naruto couldn't help but groan at the display that was totally lame. The sheer level of absurdness of those poses made him want to slam his head against a wall. 

"Just like I thought. It's just you three". 

"It's just you three? You've been treating us so cold lately" Konohamaru pouted. 

"And? What do you want?" the blonde said exasperatedly, while rolling his eyes. 

"See! He's so cold!" Konohamaru whispered to Udon.

"Well, Leader, do you have time right now?" Moegi asked, breaking out the puppy eyes. 

He scratched the back of his head slightly, finding it difficult to refuse the girl's cute puppy eyed look, yet not quite in the mood for playing games. 

"I was going to train…" he said in an apologetic tone, not wanting to seem too harsh in turning the kids down. 

"But you said that you would play ninja with us!" Konohamaru whined, greatly disappointed at the blonde's response. 

The spiky haired blonde rubbed his hair sheepishly. 

"Really?"

"What's the point in ninja playing ninja?" a voice interjected from the side. 

A little surprised at the extra presence, Naruto looked to the side to see Sakura looking back at him in a little amusement. He had forgotten about her, expecting her to have already left with Sasuke like she usually did. 

What he didn't know was that the pink haired girl had been worried about him, as he had not been acting like his usual self, and Sakura felt that it was her responsibility as his teammate to ensure his well being. 

She hadn't caught the usually cheerful boy smiling even once since the fight in Wave country. A depressing atmosphere now replaced the cheery optimism that he held, and she found it was causing her to also feel slightly depressed. 

Naruto's cheerful nature had always brought her a warm feeling. Now that it was gone, she felt somewhat empty inside. She hadn't known before, how much she would miss his cheerfulness and energy, until now that it was gone. But she knew that she wanted it back. 

"Nii-chan, who's this girl?" Konohamaru looked at Sakura, before smirking a sly grin at Naruto, and patted his rival on the back as if congratulating him for something.

"You're better than I thought" Konohamaru exclaimed, the smirk still in place.

"She's your… right?" Konohamaru said, while sticking his pinky out to indicate what he was implying in place of the word he left unsaid. 

Sakura glared threateningly at Naruto as if daring him to agree. 

Naruto noticing the look on the girl's face, sweat dropped and quickly denied it, unwilling to invoke the terrifying girl's wrath. 

"Actually, she's just my team mate".

Though it had been what she had wanted to hear, Sakura felt oddly disappointed by his answer. 

"Well, I suppose you could do better than someone with that big a forehead…" Konohamaru quipped, rubbing his chin in contemplation as he took a better look of the pink haired girl. 

The blonde winced as he caught the dark look that appeared on the said pink-haired girl's face. The murderous intent in her expression was almost demonic, and Naruto found himself frozen to the spot. 

"You should start running Konohamaru…" Naruto advised in a whisper. 

The boy gulped loudly, realising his mistake, took the advice, and quickly fled for his life as fast as his legs could take him. 

As she gave chase, Sakura turned to look over her shoulder. 

Catching the small, amused smile that the blonde sported, she felt a little relieved. 

He was smiling again. And she felt the warmth in her chest return. 

* * *

The sound of impact around the corner caught his immediate attention. It had originated from the direction in which Sakura and Konohamaru had disappeared to, around the corner of the street out of his view. 

The subsequent sounds of struggle put him further on edge. 

"That hurt…" A boy dressed entirely in black clothes and hood spat, hoisting Konohamaru up by the front of his shirt. 

"Stop it. We're going to get scolded later", a blonde kunoichi beside him reprimanded, though made no movement to stop him. 

Naruto cautiously approached as he took the time to observe the two. Judging by their hitai-ate, they were clearly ninja from Sunagakure. 

The kunoichi looked to be a few years older than he, and had a head of blonde hair held in four ponytails. She was quite beautiful and her exotic looks stood out clearly among the local girls of Konoha. 

The male Suna ninja wore a completely black outfit and hood, and could be identified from the crowd by the distinctive purple and white face paint he wore, though in Naruto's opinion, it made him look a bit ridiculous. 

Both ninja had large weapons strapped behind them, though Naruto couldn't quite make out what they were from his point of view. 

"Please let him go" Naruto said, as he walked up beside Sakura who had also approached the foreign ninja. 

He was polite, yet his tone was firm, though not demanding. It was almost emotionless, and unnervingly calm tone of voice, a type of speech that he picked up from Kurenai, as the kunoichi often spoke in such a tone to not reveal any information about one's self through their speech. 

Until he had an idea of the two Suna ninja's skill and was confident that he could defeat them, it was wise to avoid a fight if possible. Being a specialist in espionage and tracking, avoiding direct combat at all cost was something Kurenai had drilled into his mind. 

While it hadn't been something he liked to learn, Naruto knew that learning to control his emotions would only serve to make him a better ninja in the long run. 

Though avoiding conflict had been a sound decision, Naruto knew that while being polite in this situation was imperative, being too passive would only be counter productive as the Suna ninja would take it as a sign of cowardice. 

'These guys are Konoha genin…' The hooded man grinned as if he was a child just given a new set of toys. 

"I just wanted to play around a bit…" He said, sporting an arrogant smirk. 

Despite his improvements in controlling his emotions, Naruto struggled to suppress his anger and irritation. 

Quickly calming himself, Naruto decided that the hooded guy was underestimating him. 

If being polite did not work, then the only way for him to get the guy to back down was to show some of his power. 

In other words, he needed to show off a little. Something that he had no qualms in doing. In fact, he would take pleasure in doing so. Though this would also risk further conflict.

Grinning inwardly, while stepping forward with an impassive look. He stared into the other boy's eyes. 

"You should let go of the Hokage's grandson. Or there will be…." 

"Consequences…" a voice whispered from directly behind the two sand genin. 

The sand genin quickly whirled around completely startled at the voice that whispered into their ears behind them to see another Naruto looking at them impassively. 

The male Suna genin dropped Konohamaru in complete surprise, who scurried on his hands and feet quickly, seeking safety behind Naruto. 

Sakura and the three kids gaped at Naruto in awe. 

'Since when was Naruto so cool?' Sakura thought. 

Sure, he was undoubtedly much more attractive than he used to be… But what he had just done had been a level of cool that she had always attributed to Sasuke, and not something she had suspected Naruto was capable of. 

Now wearing a serious look on his face, the sand genin reached for the strap on his shoulder, ready to unleash his weapon. 

"Hey you're going to use Karasu?" The sand kunoichi asked surprised and anxious that this would lead to much trouble for them. 

"Kankuro, stop" A new, cold and emotionless voice interjected from above. 

Naruto frowned slightly as he turned to look at the new arrival that was standing upside down on a branch in a nearby tree. 

His eyes passed over the redhead and he quickly analysed boy. 

He was short, though his exact height was hard to judge given that he was hanging upside down in the air. The boy had a cold expressionless face and dark rings around the eyes. 

Naruto had no doubt that this new presence was strong. He had not sensed him even when he was so close. The redhead had a level of stealth comparable to even Kakashi. 

'He's good. Really good' Naruto thought, a little worried that he may have to fight someone of this calibre if they cannot resolve this issue peacefully. 

"You're a disgrace to our village" the redhead spoke coldly to the hooded boy.

Kankuro laughed nervously at the sight of the new boy. 

"G-Gaara…" 

"What do you think we came to the leaf village to do?" Gaara reprimanded. 

"Listen Gaara…Th..These guys started it, and…" Kankuro stuttered out nervously. 

"Shut up, or I'll kill you" Gaara threatened.

"I got it. My mistake, I'm sorry, really sorry" Kankuro waved his hand in front of him desperately to placate the redhead, seemingly extremely frightened of him. 

Gaara then turned to Naruto. 

"Apologies to you guys".

'He has strange eyes.' Naruto thought. 'And as far as I can tell, this Kankuro guy isn't weak… For him to be this scared of the redhead… He's got to be really strong…' 

Unknown to him, Gaara was also analysing him. 'To be able to catch Kankuro off guard so easily. He's good…' 

Using a swirl of sand to cover his movements, Gaara appeared beside the two previous sand ninja. 

"Let's go. We didn't come here to play around" Gaara ordered to the two other sand ninja. 

As the sand genin turned to leave, Sakura rushed forward.

"Wait!" The pink haired girl called out. 

"What?" the sand kunoichi questioned without turning around. 

"Judging from your hitai-ate, you guys are ninja from the hidden sand village, right? The fire country and wind country may be allies but it's forbidden for ninja to enter each other's villages without permission. State your purpose! Depending on…"

The sand kunoichi interrupted her. "Talk about living under a rock. Don't you know anything? Here's my passport". 

The kunoichi lifted a pass with her picture and details on it. 

"We're genin of the hidden sand from wind country. We've come to your village to take the chunin selection exam", the blonde kunoichi stated.

Naruto stepped forward. 

"What are your names?"

He wanted to learn as much of these ninja as he could in case his team gets nominated for the exams. It never hurt to have some information about your competition. 

The sand kunoichi pointed to herself questioningly. "Me?"

Naruto nodded while giving the beautiful sand kunoichi a wink, making the girl blush. 

"Yes. You and your teammates" 

Sakura frowned a bit, slightly angry at the sight of Naruto flirting with the beautiful foreign kunoichi. 

'He shouldn't be flirting with that foreign hussy! He should be flirting with me Shannaro!' Her inner personality screamed. 

"Sabaku no Gaara. I'm also interested in you. Your name?" Gaara cut in, before the kunoichi could speak.

"Uzumaki Naruto" Naruto answered Gaara, then turning to the kunoichi and gave her an expectant smile. 

"Sabaku no Temari and that's Kankuro" Temari answered, still blushing lightly, while pointing at the hooded guy. 

After making their introductions, the sand genin walked away. Naruto stared at their backs as they left, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face as they disappeared around a corner. 

'Interesting…' 

* * *

In a large room, twenty or so ninja was gathered before the Hokage. There were shinobi with a wide range of duties ranging from the protection of the village, to academy instructors to jounin team leaders. 

"From the people here, you should already know the reason for this meeting" Sarutobi began. 

"So, its that time of year already?" Kakashi commented. 

"I've already seen a few in this village", Asuma asked with a cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"So? When is it?" Kurenai asked, masking her excitement and eagerness to have her team prove themselves in the chunin exams with an impassive tone. She had trained her team especially hard just for this moment. 

"One week from now" Sarutobi answered.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at the revelation. 

"That's sudden" the white haired jounin admitted.

Sarutobi took the pipe from his lips and blew out a puff of smoke. 

"I will now make the official announcement. Seven days from now, the first of July, we will begin the chunin selection exam", the leader of the leaf village announced.

"Now, those watching over the new genin step forward. Kakashi, Kurenai, and Asuma. Are there any genin you would like to nominate for this exam?" Sarutobi said. 

Among the gathered ninja, Umino Iruka frowned. 

'He doesn't need to ask. They aren't ready' the academy teacher thought, already expecting none of the teams to be nominated. 

"Now, starting with Kakashi…" Sarutobi continued. 

"Team 7: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, under the name of Hatake Kakashi. I nominate these three to take the chunin selection exam" Kakashi announced.

Iruka gasped in shock at the jounin's announcement.

"Team 8 consisting of Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino. I, Yuuhi Kurenai, nominate team 8 for the chunin exam" Kurenai announced with confidence. 

"I, Sarutobi Asuma, leader of team 10, consisting of Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chouji. I nominate these three for the exam".

Surprised gasps were heard from most of the gathered ninja and whispers of the sudden revelation began to pass between the gathered ninja. 

"All three teams nominated?"

"All of the rookies in the chunin exam?"

"Hold on a second!" Iruka cried out to the Hokage in protest. 

"What is it Iruka?" Sarutobi questioned.

"Hokage-sama. Please let me have a word! I may be speaking out of place, but these were students of mine at the academy. They are all very talented, but it's too early for them to take the exam! They should have more experience before being nominated!" Iruka cried out in concern. 

"I became a chunin when I was six year younger than Naruto" Kakashi challenged, knowing how much Iruka cared for Naruto.

"Naruto is different than you! Are you trying to crush these kids?" Iruka retorted.

"They are always complaining about the missions. Experiencing some pain may be good for them".

"What?!" Iruka frowned.

"I understand what you're trying to say. But your concern is unfounded. Naruto is perhaps the most ready out of them all, at least mentally. Along with Sasuke, the two of them were able to defeat a jounin level ninja together in a C-ranked turned A-ranked mission. Naruto also made his first kill in that mission" Kakashi revealed. 

Iruka's eyes widened at the revelation. He had heard of the mission, but he wasn't aware of the details, as he had not been the one to review the mission report, and had yet to hear anything from Naruto himself. 

He had expected an elite jounin like Kakashi to deal with all the combat situations they came across. 

Iruka found himself speechless and unable to respond. 

Kurenai was also immensely surprised, and would've let out a gasp of shock involuntarily, if not for her good self-control. 

She hadn't seen the blonde haired Jinchuriki since he left for the mission to Nami no Kuni over a month ago. Even when she knew he had returned, the blonde kept skipping their usual scheduled training sessions together, only leaving her a note each time to say he would not be coming. 

The red-eyed woman had been irritated to say the least, and had been planning on giving him a piece of her mind for slacking off and wasting her time. 

But now, that irritation turned to worry for the boy. 

The memory of her own first kill was still as fresh on her mind as the day it happened, even after many years had past. 

She had been young then, as young as Naruto was now. 

She had taken weeks off active duty to recover. And it was only with the support of her teammates and sensei that she slowly got over it. 

'Maybe I should check up on him…' she thought. 

* * *

It was late in the evening when the meeting had ended. 

While the central business district of Konoha was still bursting with nightly activity, the quieter streets were already deserted, as most citizens had returned home. 

Unlike the majority of shinobi that had left the meeting exhausted and wanting to wind down with a few drinks at the pubs, Kurenai had no desire to do so this night. 

She wasn't a big drinker like many of the shinobi that liked to wash away their troubles and painful memories with large amounts of alcohol. Though from time to time, she would share sake among friends and socialise with her fellow ninja. 

Most of the time, she did so to keep up with the latest rumours and news pertaining to the ninja world, both in and outside the village. Information gathering was an essential skill for a shinobi, and most people are at their most talkative when they're sloshed. 

It was surprising how many ninja liked to talk of their exploits and experiences on missions over some sake. And Kurenai felt that any information she learned at these times could potentially be useful for her career as a ninja. One would never know, as that gossip could end up saving her life one day. 

But tonight was not such a night, as she was already mentally exhausted after a lengthy meeting. She had still planned to organise some last minute training for her team to prepare for the chunin exams. 

She absentmindedly declined an invitation from Asuma to go to the nearest pub, to his disappointment, and headed towards the more busy streets of Konoha looking for a bite to eat before she embarrassed herself in front of fellow shinobi with the rumbling of her stomach. 

Kurenai was glad she had the foresight to eat something before the meeting, although it hadn't been more than a stick of dango, in her rush to get to the meeting. 

Being a seasoned ninja, She was no stranger to working on an empty stomach for extended periods of time, though it wasn't exactly a good feeling having hydrochloric acid burning at your stomach walls. 

Looking left and right as she travelled down the streets, passing by several restaurants, trying to make up her mind on the type of cuisine she wanted to sate her hunger with. 

Her red eyes eventually settled onto a small ramen stand that stood just outside of the busiest parts of the street. 

She smiled slightly. Ichiraku ramen didn't sound bad at the moment. 

Kurenai had been to the Ichiraku ramen stand several times with Naruto and Anko. The ramen was good in her opinion, more than good enough to be deserving of the title of the best ramen one could find in Konoha, which Naruto praised as the self appointed greatest fan of ramen. 

She wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as Naruto was in ramen, though she found the blonde's obsession to be slightly contagious and developed a small appreciation of it. 

Thinking about the boy's eagerness in eating ramen always brought a smile to her lips. 

Even though she had not seen the boy for just over a month, she found herself starting to miss his company. The reason she enjoyed his company wasn't because she had romantic feelings for the boy, despite how much Anko liked to joke about it. 

It was because of the energy that he brought to her monotonous life. Even Anko had often commented on how dull she was at times and that she was way too serious about her job as a ninja, that she was a borderline workaholic. 

Kurenai entered the stand, and exchanged an awkward glance with Ayame, before ordering a bowl of ramen. 

As she waited, the image of an impatient Naruto fidgeting heavy as he waited for his ramen passed through her mind. 

But thoughts on the boy only served to make her worry. She wanted to know how he was coping with having his first kill. 

She eventually decided to hurry with her eating and check up on the boy after she was done. She knew that she wouldn't have any time in the next several days to visit him, as she had to prepare her team for the exams. 

* * *

Wincing from pain, he jerked backwards in natural reflex, as a kunai skimmed his arm, cutting it. Ignoring the bleeding, he jumped backwards dodging another blade, by barely an inch. 

His body was tired, almost on the verge of collapse. And his legs wobbled unstably like jelly, not knowing when it would finally give way to gravity. 

But he pushed on with sheer will. 

He quickly tensed his legs locking his muscles to control the shaking, before having to dive to the side as a moderate sized fireball roared past him, incinerating all in it's path, before dispersing into smoke. 

He panted heavily in exertion, and the lingering heat from the fire did nothing to help, as it made it difficult to breath. 

As he struggled to regain his breath, his eyes worked in a frenzy, trying to track every movement of his enemy. 

There were six of them, their features undiscernible in the dark. 

For the next few seconds, they did not attack, allowing him enough time to calm and regulate his breathing. But they had taken that time to surround him, each taking an advantageous position for both offensive and defensive strategies. 

His eyes narrowed. Six against one were not good odds for him at all. 

Every move he made now would be crucial. Any wasted movements on his part will lead to immediate defeat. He could not afford to make even a single mistake. 

The only way he could win was to be something he wasn't. He needed to fight in a way his enemies aren't. 

He needed to be efficient. 

Every movement he made, every step he took, every punch, kick, block or parry he made must be calculated down to the last degree. 

But more importantly, he must be ruthless in attack. 

Every blow must be simple and quick, and executed without any hesitation, and delivered without mercy. 

When striking out, there can only be one goal in mind… 

And that was to kill. And to kill immediately. 

A single strike to the throat or to the heart is all that will suffice. 

He had never fought like that before. Never as ruthless, never as brutal. Never aiming to kill. 

Except that one time… 

Now breathing evenly, he extended his senses outwards preparing to defend himself against the hidden enemy. 

Suddenly, something prickled his danger instincts, and he dove to the side urgently. Several thumping noises were heard, as three kunai embedded itself into the dirt ground where he had been standing. 

His eyes widened in horror, when he caught sight of several small paper tags tied to the ends of the kunai. 

He jumped. 

Not quick enough. 

He grunted in pain, as he was thrown roughly against a tree. Coughing out some blood, he slumped tiredly and in pain against the tree. 

Using the tree behind him as leverage, he shakily hoisted himself upwards, holding onto the tree to maintain balance. 

Turning around, he headed into the forest, hoping to hide himself within the darkness of the night and the shadows within the trees. 

But the enemy had already anticipated that action, as if their actions were extensions of his own mind. 

With his escape route cut off, he headed back into the safety of the clearing. 

The option of hiding was no longer available. 

They were aware of every tactical decision he made, and countered each and every one of them. 

If he could not hide in the darkness, there was no point in staying within the darkness of the forest. Barely any moonlight penetrated the canopy of the trees, certainly not enough for him to fight effectively. 

He barely deflected a thrown kunai with one of his own, lucky that he had been at the edge of the forest where moonlight reflected off the steel blade, allowing him to see the incoming weapon. 

Standing at the centre of the clearing once again, he waited, the initiative in the enemy's hands. 

It was late at night, but under the bright moonlight, he could see everything and anything the enemy could throw at him. 

Even though they surrounded him, several hiding in the surrounding trees, he would be able to handle any projectile weapons much easier from his current position, which would force the enemy into close combat. 

Precisely what he wanted. 

Hearing the rustling of grass from behind, the sign of fast paced movement, he reacted on his fighting instincts and ducked under a kick sent from behind. 

Sliding out of the way, so he faced his enemy, he found himself assaulted from behind by another opponent. 

He blocked the kick with his right arm, grunting slightly in pain as he took the full brunt of the impact with the limb. 

Pushing downwards in a single sweep of his arms, he redirected the leg to the side, causing the enemy to slightly lose balance. 

He did not have the chance to counter attack, as he was forced to add some distance between them, by the first attacker. 

Before he could gain a stable stance, he barely managed to side step yet another fireball from a third enemy. 

This time, the flames managed to singe parts of his clothes. And he winced as the heat of the fire scorched his skin just from proximity. 

Then, a flare of chakra alerted him to the presence above. 

He looked upwards, finding another attacker barrelling upon him. 

He sent himself into a tumble to move out of harm's way, managing to escape a direct hit, which made impact with the ground. 

But the subsequent explosion of rubble caught him off guard, sending him flying back ten feet and painfully onto his back. 

Brushing away the chunks of dirt on his chest, he lifted his bruised and battered body off the ground painfully. 

He snarled angrily at being beaten so easily. 

He clenched his fist hard. If he was going to lose, he would at least do some damage. 

He let out a loud war cry, and charged the nearest enemy, the one that attacked from above, putting his all into one single attack. 

The enemy stood wide-eyed, frozen to the spot, not expecting him to go on the attack, nor for him to be able to move at that speed. 

He moved, as fast as he could, the remaining of his energy forced into his legs to generate more speed. 

His arm reached out, hands already formed into a claw. 

His full concentration was aimed at the throat. 

To win, he must come at them with intent to kill. 

He neared his enemy… two feet… one feet… half feet…

Just before contact, a pale face flashed through his mind. 

And blood… Haku. 

He flinched. 

It was all it took for the situation to be reversed. 

And he found air forcefully expelled from his lungs before he landed roughly onto the ground. 

He laid there on the ground, thoroughly defeated. 

Pushing himself into an upright, sitting position to get more air back into his lungs, he then coughed out some blood. 

Six figures surrounded him, looking down upon him, no longer hidden among the trees. 

He held out a hand, a sign of surrender. 

The figures nodded and disappeared in puffs of smoke. 

He sat there alone, breathing raggedly. 

"Even when I'm awake, it still affects me" he whispered to himself. 

Completely exhausted, he collapsed onto his back, resting his aching body. 

* * *

The scene that greeted her wasn't one Kurenai had been expecting. 

It was already deep into the night when she reached the training grounds, a time where most would already be sleeping. 

It was already rare to find anyone using the training grounds at this time of the night, but never the red-eyed woman never expected to witness a sparring session that was more akin to an all out battle to the death. 

The training ground was small, consisting of mostly a small section of clearing, surrounded by trees. 

Potholes were everywhere, shuriken and kunai all over the place. The ground was cracked, rubble was scattered around, small trenches and craters decorated the small section of clearing, and many of the surrounding trees were collapsed and burnt, a sign of the use of katon jutsu. 

And in the centre of all the destruction, lay Naruto unmoving, obviously too exhausted to move. 

It had taken Kurenai some time to locate the boy, as he had not been at his apartment as she had originally thought. Though she eventually tracked him down to one of his usual training spots. 

She had hidden herself from view, quietly observing his training. 

She had only came in time to catch the tail end of the fight, but the ferocity and sheer intensity of the training worried her. It was much more intense than any training she had put her team through, or would willingly put them through. 

She had known he was hardworking ever since she had started teaching him. But this was complete recklessness. One wrong move, and he could've been severely injured or even killed. 

She had wanted to cut in to stop the training, but did not want to get in the crossfire of jutsu and weapons. 

Surprising ninja in deep concentration would've been unwise as it could invoke negative reflexive responses, such as throwing weapons at the object of their surprise. In this case, which would be her. 

But seeing the boy collapsed to the ground, Kurenai immediately moved to check on him. Chakra exhaustion ranged from mild to severe, and in the worst cases, could even be life threatening. 

Kneeling down next to the blonde, she whispered his name softly. 

"Naruto…"

The blonde turned his head in her direction, meeting her worried eyes. 

Naruto lifted himself a little so he could sit upright. 

Kurenai gasped as she saw the heavily troubled look on his face that seemingly made him look much old than he was. And the slightly darkened bags under his eyes showed his lacking sleep. 

"Naruto! You shouldn't train like this. You could've hurt yourself. It's late. You should be at home, getting some sleep!" Kurenai chided concernedly. 

"I couldn't sleep…" Naruto mumbled under his breath, his eyes on the floor and his voice sounding quite hoarse. 

Kurenai frowned, and it was then, that she knew she had been right to find the boy. She remembered that she too, had trouble sleeping after making her first kill. He looked like he really needed someone to talk to. 

Kurenai paused slightly to gather her thoughts so she could find a good way to approach the topic, as she knew that despite how much he needed it, he didn't want to talk about it. 

It was clear to her now, that he had been releasing pent up emotions through training. 

And seeing him in such a miserable state made it clear how troubled he really was. 

His eyes were dull, the usual fire in them was gone. She hated to see the normally strong willed boy like this.

Kurenai cursed Kakashi for not helping the boy as his sensei. Though she knew that Kakashi had never been good at, or comfortable with emotional talks. 

Swallowing dryly, she realised that she was still undecided on how to start the conversation. The beautiful jounin knew that being blunt or overly forceful in trying to get him to open up would only make the boy feel worse. 

She could only offer him an ear to listen. 

"Naruto… I've heard from Kakashi about your mission…" Kurenai began cautiously with a soft voice. 

Naruto remained silent. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kurenai offered gently.

Naruto remained silent, still looking down at the ground, never once making eye contact. 

Kurenai was patient, and waited for him to speak on his own. 

For some time, they remained completely silent, before Naruto finally let loose his troubles to his sensei. He told her everything. From his fight with Haku, to making the killing blow, and then killing Gatoh. 

He told her how the mission had completely changed his view of the shinobi profession. 

He had been woken from a fantasy world, and reality had shaken him to the core. He had lost all confidence in himself, and his future as a shinobi was in doubt. He used to ache for higher-level missions, and fights with powerful ninja. 

But he realised that the reality of ninja battle can be cruel. And the consequences were not always what you expect, and rarely ends up a happy ending. 

Naruto knew that he could not continue as he used to, having lost his innocence. But if he continued to be a ninja, he wasn't sure if he could do what needed to be done when the time comes. 

If he was forced into the same situation once more, could he kill again? 

His view of the ninja world had been in terms of black and white. Where those who were evil are his enemy, and those that are good were his allies. 

And before the mission, he had thought that he would have no qualms in killing his enemies, because they were evil. 

But he never realised that it was not always the case. 

At the time, he knew that his sense of justice would never allow him to let Zabuza succeed in killing Tazuna. 

Yet, despite being enemies, Haku was not evil. They became enemies only due to a conflict of interest and circumstance. 

If he was forced into the same situation, knowing that he had to kill someone like Haku, could he do it? 

The guilt of taking Haku's life was already tearing him apart. 

He wanted to protect. Not kill. 

But if he had to kill in order to protect, knowing he might kill someone that did not deserve to die, someone that he fought only due to circumstance… Could he do it? 

"Could you live with yourself if your friends and teammates died, all because you wouldn't kill, and knowing that you could've saved them if you did?" Kurenai whispered, but it was thunder to Naruto's ears. 

She knew exactly what he was feeling. She had felt the same when she made her first kill. And her own sensei had asked her the exact same question. And now, she in turn would ask him the same. 

Naruto's head rose sharply, gasping in shock at her words. His dulled blue eyes made contact with his sensei's piercing red eyes. 

He swallowed dryly and repeated her question in his mind. 

'Could I? Could I live with myself, if I failed to protect them because I won't kill?'

Naruto's face hardened. 

'No… I can't'

He had realised that he had come to the same conclusion at the time of the fight. 

He recalled that at the time, he was ready to bear the guilt of taking a life if it meant Sasuke and Sakura would be safe. 

Yet, after the fight, no matter what he did, he just couldn't convince himself that it had been the right decision. 

But now, he realised now, that he had done the right thing. Because Sasuke may not be alive now had he not done what he had. 

Kurenai smiled as the boy's resolve slowly started to return. 

But it faltered once more. 

While killing Haku had been a necessity, the circumstance in his killing of Gatoh was completely different. 

He had killed the tyrant in cold blood for having to kill Haku in vain, not because of his desire to protect. 

It was true he had used chakra from the nine tails at the time, although he wasn't consciously aware of it until sometime afterwards. But he also couldn't deny the fact that he had been in control of himself, and had truly desired the crime lord's death. 

He had relished in killing the short man, and even taken pleasure in inflicting fear into Gatoh's crooks. He had felt no remorse at the time, as he was much too worried for his teammates. But in the aftermath, he was completely disgusted with himself. 

No matter the fact that the crime lord's death released an entire country from his iron-fisted rule, and no matter the fact that he was a hero to an entire country, he could not accept that as answer to the fact that he had enjoyed killing, if only for just a moment. 

"I'm a monster… just like they say…" a voice, barely a whisper escaped his lips. 

Kurenai's eyes widened. 

"No!" Kurenai told him firmly.

"But I killed Gatoh in cold blood! I even enjoyed it!" He sniffled, letting out a choked sob, as he tried hard not to break down crying. 

He tried to look her in the eyes but flinched and turned away too ashamed to do so. 

Kurenai held her hands to his face, guiding his gaze to her own, so she could look into his eyes. 

Naruto tried to avert his eyes unwilling to see a look of disgust in her eyes. 

His heart ached. He didn't know why, but her opinion meant everything to him, and he could not bear to be rejected. 

"Look at me" Kurenai whispered softly in a caring tone. 

Naruto found himself unable to do so. 

"Please…" Kurenai pleaded. 

Eventually, Naruto reluctantly turned his eyes so he could gaze into pools of red. 

The look in her eyes was not what he had expected. A look of complete acceptance reflected back at him. 

His heart soared. 

Kurenai gave him with a serene smile in response to the look of hope in his eyes. 

"You are not a monster. If you are, you won't be beating yourself up over it. You did a good thing. You saved the people of Wave." Kurenai told him firmly.

Naruto felt happy, happier than he had felt for a long time. So happy, that he could not stop the tears from rolling down his face. 

Kurenai couldn't help but gather the fragile boy into her arms. 

He sobbed lightly into her shoulder, as she rubbed his back comfortingly in a circular motion. 

After some time, the sobbing died away. 

Kurenai tried to released the embrace, but found Naruto sleeping soundly in her arms. 

Kurenai smiled softy, thinking that he looked so peaceful and cute in his sleep. 

For the first time in weeks, his nightmares did not come. 

* * *

It was morning once more, and team 7 found themselves waiting for their teacher who was late as usual. 

Naruto was deep in thought, recalling the night before. He had not remembered when he had fallen asleep. 

Though he had woken in his bed feeling better rested than he had been in weeks. Not once had the nightmares bothered him. 

He was glad of his talk with Kurenai. He felt his troubles disappear as if a large weight had being lifted from his shoulders. 

His resolve had returned, perhaps even stronger than before, now that he had come to terms with having to kill. 

Naruto felt immensely grateful for Kurenai's support, and thought that he should do something nice for the woman. Not to mention he had wanted to make up for having missed her birthday celebration while he had been away in wave on mission. 

Meanwhile Sakura watched Naruto with a small smile. She was glad to see the shine in his eyes return. 

But with Naruto deep in thought, and Sasuke quiet as usual, silence was shared between the teammates. And the silence was making Sakura uncomfortable and in her boredom became increasingly fidgety. 

"ARRRRRG" Sakura screamed in frustration eventually. "Why does that guy call us out and then make us wait? What about the feelings of a young maiden who overslept and couldn't finish blow-drying her hair!" 

Before the two boys could reply, high-speed movement could be felt. 

Turning their heads, they caught Kakashi appearing on a pillar above them in a blur. 

"Morning everyone! Today, I got lost on the road of life".

"LIAR!" Sakura screamed.

"Well, anyway… This is sudden, but I've nominated you guys for the chunin selection exam. Here are your applications"

The team was speechless.

"But… this is just a nomination. It's up to you whether or not to take the exam. Those who wish to take it sign the applications and take them to room 301 of the academy by 3pm six days from now. That is all".

And with that, the jounin disappeared in a puff of smoke, as suddenly as he appeared. 

Seeing the look of uncertain and insecure look on Sakura's face, Naruto gave her a reassuring smile. 

"Don't worry Sakura. You'll be fine". 

Sakura gave the boy a grateful look, feeling much better at his words. 

Seeing his reassuring smile, she couldn't help but feel safe and secure. 

* * *

You plan to take the chunin exam with that?" mocked one of the pair of Konoha genin that had been blocking the doorway to the room, as he punched another genin to the floor that tried to approach. 

"You guys should quit now" the genin blocking the way spat. "You're just little kids" 

"Please let us through" pleaded a girl who was dressed in a pink shirt and had hair in two buns. She helped her teammate off the floor, the boy that was punched to the floor. 

He was a goofy looking boy with a bowl cut and massively thick eyebrows. But more outstandingly, dressed in green spandex. 

The bun haired took the silence from the genin as agreement and walked forward, only to receive a fist to the face knocking her to the ground. 

"Horrible…" a voice murmured from among the gathered crowd of chunin hopefuls. 

"Listen, we're being kind. The chunin exams isn't easy", the genin that threw the punch said. 

"A lot of people in this exam will end up quitting as Shinobi. And some others won't even be able to recover at all. We've seen it many times" His teammate added. 

"Chunin are military platoon captains. The failure of a mission, the death of a soldier are all part of the captain's responsibility. Yet kids like you think…." The genin snorted, not even bother finishing.

"We're just thinning out those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?"

Sasuke moved through the crowd with Sakura and Naruto trailing him. "I agree, but you'll let me pass. And remove this genjutsu-created surrounding. I'm going to the third floor".

Confused whispers were shared among the crowd around them.

Naruto rolled his eyes slightly. 

'We could've just walked to the real room 301. But noooooo, he had to show off. We could've eliminated a lot of competition. But then again, if they can't spot this genjutsu, they aren't much of a threat to us'.

His eyes then turned to the three at the front of the crowd beside them. He narrowed his eyes at the team that just had two of their members knocked to the floor by the genin that was blocking the door. 

'There's no way a Hyuga can't see through a genjutsu of this level. That team must be faking it to hide their strength'. 

"So you noticed?" One of the genins blocking the doorway spoke. 

Sasuke smirked in triumph. "Sakura, you must have noticed it first, right? Your analytical ability and genjutsu know-how are the most improved on our team".

Naruto hid a smirk of his own at Sasuke's words. He had been keeping his genjutsu training with Kurenai a secret as his trump card. 

Though he was glad Sasuke had also noticed Sakura's waning confidence and used this opportunity to help her regain some of that confidence she had lost. 

Sakura smiled slightly at being praised, finding herself feeling much more confident than before. 

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun" the girl whispered under her breath.

She looked up, this time with a confident expression. "Of course I noticed. Because this is the second floor!"

The genins blocking the door smirked and released their genjutsu.

"Not bad. But all you did was see through it!" The genin called out, while sending a kick straight at Sasuke. 

Having remained alert since the start of the confrontation, Sasuke returned a kick of his own back at his attacker. 

But before either blow landed, it was intercepted by the unassuming boy that was dressed in the green spandex. 

'Fast' Sakura thought, in slight awe of the speed this genin had moved.

Naruto raised an eyebrow. 'He's pretty fast. I was right, he had been faking to hide his strength'. 

Sasuke frowned. 'He intercepted my kick…'

The teammates of the spandex wearing boy moved up beside him. 

"Hey, what happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves" The Hyuga genin questioned.

"Well…" The boy replied sheepishly, not knowing what to say.

The boy then turned and looked to Sakura with admiration in his eyes. His female team mate shook her head "oh no…" 

"My name is Rock Lee. So your's is Sakura… " His smile brightened, as he gave a thumbs up in a pose that was as stupid as he looked. 

"Let's go out together! I'll protect you until I die!"

Sakura's jaw dropped. 

"No… way… You're lame…" she deadpanned. 

The boy in spandex bowed his head depressed at her rejection. 

Sasuke and Naruto stared on dumbfounded, both finding the scene amusing. 

'No way I'll go out with you! That hair cut, those eyebrows… Ewww' Sakura thought in disgust. 

"Hey you! What's your name?" the Hyuga boy spoke to Sasuke in a demanding tone. 

"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give your's first" Sasuke retorted arrogantly, not liking the Hyuga's tone one bit.

The Hyuga frowned at the Uchiha's response. 

"You're a rookie right? How old are you?" He questioned again with the same demanding voice. 

"I don't have to answer you" Sasuke scoffed.

The Hyuga narrowed his eyes in anger. "What?"

The girl with the hair in the buns smiled, but rolled her eyes slightly at the exchange between the two arrogant boys. 'How cute…'

'But…' She turned to look at the blonde and pink haired genin that stood beside Sasuke. Her teammate Hyuga Neji had obviously gained an interest in the Uchiha survivor. As his teammate, she decided to scope out the Uchiha's teammates just in case they were a threat. 

She gave the pink haired girl a quick once over, but found nothing special. In fact, the girl looked weak. The girl seemed to be the type of kunoichi that cared more for her looks than her ability as a ninja. And as a kunoichi that was very serious about her career, she immediately found a small dislike for the pink haired girl. 

The blonde on the other hand gave mixed signals. The way his gaze landed on her team had been somewhat unnerving, giving her a feeling that he might have been analysing them, just as she was analysing him.

On the other hand, the cheery and carefree expression on his face revealed none of that, and the relaxed posture and stance he held gave an impression that he was weak. 

And being the Uchiha's teammate, he would've likely been the dead last of his class, suggesting that he wasn't much of a threat to her team. 

It was a shame as she found the boy to be kind of cute. Though skill and strength were attributes that she looked for in potential boyfriends, and the blonde boy despite being physically cute seemed to lack these attributes. 

But then again, looks can be deceiving, considering her teammate Lee's progress since her team started. 

It would not be wise to completely discount them so early. After all, this was the famous Hatake Kakashi's genin team. 

Feeling the stare of the bun haired girl, Naruto turned to the girl making eye contact. 

Smiling slightly, he gave her a small wink before looking back at the confrontation between the Hyuga and Uchiha prodigies, making the girl blush slightly. 

'At least he knows how to flirt… unlike Lee… or Neji…' The bun haired girl mused. 

Eventually, the Hyuga and Uchiha boys broke eye contact from their attempt to gauge the other's strength. 

Sasuke turned to leave, with Naruto and Sakura following closely behind. 

* * *

Team 7 stared in awe as they found themselves facing a large crowd of over a hundred genin. 

Having been possibly the last team to arrive, it served to freak them out a bit as they stood at the centre of attention. 

The sense of hostility that permeated the entire room intimidated them, and even though Naruto felt confident of his strength, he couldn't help but feel a bit unnerved at the glares sent their way. 

The blonde's eyes swept from left to right, scanning through the crowd of genin, getting a feel of the level of competition they would have in the exam. 

Like Kurenai had taught him, his eyes drifted from genin to genin, trying to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each shinobi that he could see. 

However, those who were the greatest of threat stuck out like a sore thumb, to those that knew how to look. 

All one needed to look for, was the confidence in each shinobi. 

Barely repressed killing intent, the air of danger that was suffocating and the sheer intensity of the glaring eyes of the gathered ninja made it impossible for the weak to remain composed. 

Despite the gathered ninja being supposedly the cream of crop of their respective village, only a handful of ninja held themselves with absolute confidence.

Most seemed to hide their nervousness behind a false mask of confidence by emitting a small amount of killing intent. 

The greatest threat however, lay in the rare few shinobi that remained completely calm and unwavering even within this kind of oppressive atmosphere. 

Naruto's eyes instantly settled onto the first of such ninja. 

Rock Lee. 

The green clad ninja, though silly looking and fairly unassuming could be considered an embodiment of the expression that 'looks could be deceiving'. 

Despite his looks, there was one thing that was certain. 

He is undoubtedly strong. 

On their way to the room, Sasuke had been challenged to a fight by this one genin. 

The fight lasted mere moments, ending with the Uchiha utterly decimated and humiliated. 

Had he not witnessed the outcome of the fight first hand, he would be hardly convinced if told that Lee was incredibly powerful. 

But despite Sasuke's loss to this genin, they were able to garner valuable information about Lee. Not that the boy with thick eyebrows bothered much to hide that he was in fact a taijutsu specialist. Lee had even announced that loudly at one point during the fight. Which Naruto found amusing as it served to further incense the Uchiha. 

Even with his bloodline limit, Sasuke was unable to come close to defeating Lee. The gap between their abilities was too large, the boy was simply too fast and skilled for Sasuke. 

Naruto understood that in terms of taijutsu, his skill was well below the older genin. And beating the boy they now dubbed fuzzy eyebrows in sheer speed was highly unlikely, as he seemed to specialise in speed. 

Even though he could easily match the boy's display of speed in the quick fight, Lee was definitely hiding his true speed. 

However, taijutsu specialists are usually more susceptible to genjutsu, although it was not always the case. 

But for Naruto, who had been secretly learning the art of genjutsu, it was an advantage that he held over the older genin. 

Still, Lee was undoubtedly a large threat to their team's success in this exam, and was definitely someone they needed to watch out for. 

The blonde's eyes then moved to the raven-haired genin standing beside Lee. 

The distinctive pale eyes instantly identified him as a Hyuga. Like his teammate, he held himself with complete confidence, with a tinge of arrogance.

Naruto was well aware of the strength of the Hyuga clan. He had at one point researched the Juuken taijutsu style in hopes of furthering his own taijutsu training. 

Although in the end, there hadn't been much he had discovered of the style, except one thing. 

Fighting in close combat with any Hyuga would be pure folly. 

On top of the style, there was the advantage of the Byakugan bloodline limit that makes them almost impossible to catch off guard. 

Naruto also recalled the fact that Lee had mentioned before offhandedly that his teammate was perhaps the strongest Konoha genin in the exam. 

Is would be imperative for him if he even faced Neji, that he fought using his only advantage. 

Ninjutsu. 

Despite their superiority in taijutsu and strength as a clan, the Hyuga clan's arrogance and confidence in their techniques prevents them from studying other techniques. 

If given the chance, Naruto decided that he should observe the Juuken fighting style in order to learn it's secrets. 

Naruto's eyes then turned to the final member of Lee and Neji's team. 

It was difficult to determine the exact abilities of the girl, as she seemed somewhat plain and unassuming, even though she was kinda cute in a girl next-door kind of way. 

She did not stand out among the crowd, being somewhat tomboyish, hidden among bloodthirsty ninja. 

But given what he knew of the girl's teammates, the logical conclusion would suggest that she would be a mid to long range fighter, as both Neji and Lee are close combat specialists. She was either someone that uses genjutsu or mid to long range ninjutsu for support, or was an expert marksman. 

Despite the fact that he could not clearly gauge her strength, she was clearly the weakest of the team, seeing as she did not held herself with the same level of confidence as her teammates. 

But then, there was hardly any other team within the room that could even consider challenging this team with all their skills together. 

Naruto's eyes then travelled through the crowd, finally settling on the next several genins that was a threat. 

It was the Suna team he had bumped into several days earlier. 

Like Rock Lee's team, the entire team of Suna genin exuded an aura of dangerousness without actively trying to appear so. 

But despite that, it was the redhead that garnered most of his attention. 

Sabaku no Gaara. 

Despite his short and skinny frame, his presence just screamed danger. It wasn't something one could really sense or see, but affects on a subconscious level. 

He didn't know why, but something about the redhead makes him wary, much more so than both Neji and Lee combined. 

Though the blonde had to wonder whether he was just paranoid, as he seemed to be the only one being wary of a small thin kid. 

With the emotionless visage, there was nothing that could be discerned of his personality or abilities. 

Nevertheless, even without any evidence what so ever, his instincts tell him that Gaara's threat level was the highest among the entire crowd. 

Definitely someone to watch out for, and to stay away from, unless confrontation was unavoidable. 

Just as Naruto was about to move on to analyse the rest of the crowd of exam participants, a loud voice called out from beside him. 

"Sasuke-kun! You're late!"

Looking out the corner of his eyes, he was treated to the sight of one Yamanaka Ino glomping Sasuke from behind, having jumped onto his back. 

"I haven't seen you for a while! I've been so excited!" Ino said, relishing the fact she was holding onto her crush. 

While the blonde pony-tailed girl was happy for Sasuke's presence, sadly the said boy did not feel the same. 

The raven-haired boy sported an irritated looked that made him look like he was going to kill someone. And as much as the Uchiha tried to shrug the girl off his shoulders, Ino did not even budge. She was stronger than she look, considering how thin she was, and maintained a tight grip on him. 

Naruto gave the boy an amused grin, which gained him a death glare in return. 

His other teammate however, was far from amused, and let her opinion know quite vocally. 

"What are you doing? Ino-pig! Get away from Sasuke-kun!" Sakura cried out in outrage. 

"Why if it isn't Sakura. Big ugly forehead as always", Ino teased. 

"What did you say!" Sakura growled indignantly. 

"Sasuke-kun is mine! Bleh!" Ino mocked, making a face at the pink haired girl with her tongue sticking out.

"Well, well, everyone is here." A new voice comments. 

The group turned to face the source of the new voice only to see Inuzuka Kiba, who had his dog Akamaru sitting on top of his head. 

Behind the Inuzuka was his two teammates Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino. 

"Geez. You guys too?" Nara Shikamaru said, as he approached the group, having followed Ino. 

"So all 9 of this year's rookie genin are taking the exam" Kiba comments, feeling proud that he was allowed to participate as a rookie genin, which goes to show his level of skill. 

"I wonder how far we'll get, eh, Sasuke" Kiba challenged.

"Pfft. You seem confident Kiba" Sasuke scoffs.

"We did a lot of training, we won't lose to you" Kiba brags.

Sasuke scoffs at that. 

"So… Where's that idiot Naruto?" Ino quipped. 

Sakura pointed to the blonde who had been beside them all along, with a deadpan look on her face. 

Ino blinked, then jaw dropped. 

Her turquoise eyes widened to bizarre proportions as she took in the form of the blonde boy whom she had always known to be an idiot. 

Pointing to the boy in disbelieve she stuttered "T..tt.that's… N.n.naruto?"

To say Naruto had changed was an understatement. It had only been six or so months since she had last seen him. But where he would've been a target of ridicule in terms of his lack of height a few months ago, he now stood at a respectable height for someone their age. Although he was still not quite as tall as the taller of the boys of their class. 

It also seemed that the boy had suddenly gained a sense of fashion, as he had abandoned the orange eyesore, and replaced it with a rather nice white coat that reached his knees. 

His hair was longer, making some shadow, which hid a bit of his eyes, giving him a slightly mysterious feel. 

Behind the golden locks of hair were deep blue eyes that shined with warmth and a tinge of playfulness.

His face was sharper, making him look more mature and serious, having lost some baby fat that used to make him cute in a child like way, no doubt, the result of intense training. 

And that grin which she had always though as cute in a childish and silly kind of way, now seemed oddly seductive. 

She couldn't help but feel the warmth build in her cheeks. Ino really wanted to berate herself as she caught herself checking out the dead last idiot. 

As much as she liked Sasuke, she couldn't even remember the last time looking at Sasuke had made her blush as much as she was now. 

Still, part of her stubborn mind argued that Sasuke was still much better looking. It wasn't exactly false. Given several more years, then perhaps Naruto could rival Sasuke in the looks department, but there was no denying that Sasuke was better looking at the moment. 

But another part of her mind found the wild blonde hair and a warm gaze was more to her tastes in contrast to the cold gazes from the Uchiha. 

A gaze from deep blue eyes that was currently looking at her with an intensity that sent shivers down her spine. 

And what was that glint in his eyes?

While Ino was taking in the sight that was Naruto, the said boy gave the speechless girl a mischievous grin. 

It was oddly gratifying to have a member of the opposite sex, and one as beautiful as Ino to find him attractive. And even though it had been an increasingly common sight ever since his change in wardrobe, it was still a massive boost to his ego. 

He had to force himself not to blush from Ino's stare. 

That was until his prankster nature kicked in. 

Striding up beside his fellow blonde, he placed an elbow on her shoulder while leaning his face towards her face. 

"Aww, I'm so disappointed you don't recognise little ol' me, Ino-chan" Naruto said jokingly and teasingly, knowing for sure that his close proximity and the way he called her name would serve to further fluster the girl, having seen her earlier reaction. 

Ino's blush deepened much to Naruto's delight. 

Ino had always been extremely proud of her own looks, and loved to flaunt it and often took amusement in making the boys blush with a little flirting. And now, Naruto was giving her a taste of her own medicine. 

"Is that a blush I see?" Naruto teased again finding the irony to be incredibly funny. 

Her blush now resembled the ripest of tomatoes. And the girl looked away slightly unable to meet his eyes, causing Naruto to chuckle slightly. 

Desperate to hide her embarrassment, she did the only thing she knew that would work in this situation. Lashing out, she smacked Naruto in the head and grabbed his collar, and yelled loudly into his face. 

"What the hell you trying to imply?" 

However, the blush on her face remained. 

Naruto just chuckled and lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. 

Beside them Sakura was fuming mad and more than a little envious of the blonde girl. 

Naruto had not referred to her with such endearment for some time, and hearing Naruto call her greatest rival that brought a twinge to her heart. 

The pink haired girl had not been envious of Ino for quite some time. She had believed that she had grown out of the blonde girl's shadow and had gained some confidence in her own self worth. 

When they had been younger, she had not been very confident of herself, and had looked up to Ino as the most beautiful and ladylike as well as the most talented kunoichi their age. 

She had eventually gained confidence in herself as she grew older and thought that the gap between them had closed and believed herself to be just as beautiful and as good a kunoichi. 

Now seeing Naruto flirt with Ino rather than herself had hurt. 

Was Ino that much more attractive and desirable than she was? 

She had witnessed Naruto flirt with several other girls, but how many months had it been since he even paid her any extra attention? 

Watching Naruto and Ino now made her wanted to cry. 

Even if Sasuke was the one she wanted, she wanted to be the one that Naruto paid attention to, not these other girls. 

As Naruto tried to placate Ino, Kiba spoke. 

"Ha! Just because you changed your clothes doesn't mean you aren't a dobe".

"Naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered softly with a blush on her cheeks, from her position beside Kiba. 

Naruto was about to make a retort to Kiba's statement when a new voice cut in, making Ino release Naruto. 

"Hey you guys, you should be more quiet." 

The entire group of rookies turned from the spectacle that was the two blondes, towards the new arrival. 

The owner of the voice was a boy with grey hair that wore a pair of glasses. He seemed to be several years older than they were. 

"You guys are rookies just out of the academy right?" The boy says. 

"Who are you?" Ino asks bluntly.

"I'm Kabuto. But look behind you" Kabuto pointed. 

The rookie genin did as Kabuto advised and found the entire crowd of genin glaring at them, with the stares of the genin from Ame the fiercest, as if they were ready to go on the kill. 

"Those guys behind you are from the hidden rain, they have short tempers. Everyone is nervous about the exam, quiet down before you cause a scene" Kabuto advised in a matter of fact tone.

"Well I can't blame you guys. You're all rookies after all. Reminds me of how I used to be" Kabuto state offhandedly.

"So this is your second time, Kabuto-san?" Sakura asked politely to the stranger.

"No, this is my seventh time" Kabuto said casually, not at all embarrassed that he had failed that many times. "This exam is held twice a year so this is my fourth year."

"Wow, so you know a lot about this exam?" Sakura questioned.

"That's right" Kabuto states proudly. "I'll share some info with you cute rookies. With these nin-info cards…" Kabuto says as he flipped out a deck of cards. 

"Nin-info cards?" Sakura questioned.

Kabuto places the deck on the floor, and the gathered rookie genins crowded around in a circle surrounding Kabuto, trying to satiate their curiosity. 

"They are basically cards which have info burned onto them with chakra" Kabuto replies. 

"I have four years worth of info here, over 200 cards. They look blank but to open the info on these cards…" Kabuto grabbed the card from the top and placed it info side up, and spun in on the tiled floor with a finger. 

"What are you doing?" Sakura asks curiously. 

"You can't view them unless I use my chakra".

With a poof of smoke, diagrams and writing revealed itself on the card. 

"This is the number of genin taking the exam, and the breakdown of what country they are from" Kabuto says. 

"Do you have cards with info on individuals?" Sasuke asked, curious of the data Kabuto had gathered. 

"Is there someone you are worried about?" Kabuto says, "My info on this exam's participants isn't perfect, but I do have it. Even you guys. Pick someone and I'll take a look". 

"Rock Lee of Konoha" Sasuke says.

"Oh you know the name? It'll be easy then", Kabuto say. 

In a blur of hands, Kabuto retrieved a single card from the deck. 

"Show me" Sasuke demanded, hoping to gain any info that could help him defeat the genin that defeated him so easily. 

"Ok, Rock Lee, he's a year older than you guys. Mission history is 20 D-rank, 12 C-rank completed. Sensei is Maito Gai. His taijutsu have improved greatly in this year, the rest is nothing impressive. He gained some attention last year as a talented new genin, but he didn't participate in the chunin exam. So this is his first time like you guys. His teammates are Hyuga Neji and Tenten". 

"Is there anyone else?" Kabuto asks after letting the rookies absorb the info. 

All of the rookies shook their heads, but one voice called out from among them. 

"Sabaku no Gaara".

The genin looked to Naruto in surprise, especially with the unusually serious tone. Not to mention the said blonde was staring directly at the redhead among the crowd that was also staring back intently. 

"Sabaku no Gaara. Mission history, 8 C-rank, and 1 B-rank. Wow, a B-rank mission as a genin. I don't have much info since he's newcomer to the exams from a foreign country. But… it seems he returned from all of his missions without even a scratch…" 

Naruto's eyes narrowed. As expected, this Gaara was good. B ranked missions were assigned to jounin level ninja. It was unlikely that the boy had gotten lucky, although not entirely impossible. After all, Sakura had technically completed an equivalent of an A class mission without a scratch in the mission to wave, as she did not fight at all. 

But considering the way the boy bossed his teammates around, it meant that he was definitely the most powerful of the group, it wasn't possible that only luck was involved. 

Which meant Gaara was at least close to jounin level. 

Despite his nervousness, his blood boiled in excitement, Naruto smirked. 

He looked forward to it. 

* * *

**AN:** Sorry it took so long for this chapter to come out, but I've been busy lately and haven't had much time to write at all. Plus, I'm never satisfied with my writing. I was on my 11th revision for the chapter before I finally posted it. And it's still not as good as I wanted it to be. 

This chapter is mostly a recap of canon events, so I hope you guys aren't too disappointed with the lack of original stuff. It was supposed to include the second part of the chunin exams where things vary from canon more, but it ended up much longer than I had expected, so I stopped the chapter here. 

For those that are disappointed by the recap, it's because I felt that the introduction of the major characters and their first interaction with the changed Naruto to be fairly important since their first impressions will impact how they act and interact with each other later, thus creating more plot divergence. 

Hopefully the small bit of Naruto and Kurenai interaction will satisfy you guys. Though I'm not very good at writing emotional stuff, so it wasn't very good. I prefer writing fighting scenes. 

Also, thanks to the people that pointed out that I kept referring to Haku as female in the last chapter. I was aware of it when I was writing, but a few cases still slipped past my notice when I was editing. It happens unconsciously because it helps me keep track of which side I'm writing about in the fight since I changed POV between Haku and Naruto/Sasuke a lot. It should be fixed now. 

I just realised that has changed the formatting so that the scene change breaks I put in no longer showed up. Annoying to have to go back and change it, took me some time, but fixed that too. 


End file.
